More than 124,000 workers have lost jobs in the global tech industry in the first seven months of this year, surpassing last year’s total layoff count in just half a year. The wave of cuts is fueling what some analysts describe as a broader white-collar crisis, with AI adoption and post-pandemic restructuring reshaping the labor market.
Oracle has cut 21,000 workers, Amazon more than 17,000, Dell 11,000 and Meta more than 10,000. California, long a center of white-collar employment in the United States, has received layoff notices affecting more than 16,000 tech workers over the same seven-month period.
The article says these cuts are not simply a cyclical downturn but part of a deeper shift as companies redirect spending toward AI. Oracle has said it plans to invest $90 billion in AI infrastructure through fiscal 2027, while Amazon has raised its capital spending to about $200 billion this year.
The burden appears to be falling heavily on managers and middle-tier white-collar workers, who were once considered high-paid professionals. Some experts cited in the article say headline unemployment figures and the broader labor market do not fully capture the strain on white-collar workers, who face rising pressure from automation and corporate cost-cutting.
