Tech layoffs continue to frustrate young Canadians

At the end of 2023, the tech industry saw huge cuts and layoffs causing concern and frustration. The start of 2024 has seen more of the same. On Jan. 25 Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox.

Tech recruiters say the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of the economy that followed have contributed to the current state of the tech industry, causing companies to overhire during the pandemic and now lay off the people they can no longer afford or no longer need.

Layoffs.FYI is a data tracker site created by entrepreneur Roger Lee that tracks data of companies that have laid off employees since the pandemic in 2020 in Canada and the U.S. According to Layoffs.FYI, since the new year started, 204 tech companies laid off employees, equal to nearly 50,000 people, as of March 12, year to date. In 2023, over 263,000 people were laid off, following 165,000 layoffs in 2022.

People Laid off by Year 2022-2024. 2024 Figure is year-to-date. Photo credit: Brianna Alexander-Thomas

Tech recruiter and career consultant Polina Vasylenko says she can see the tech layoffs continuing for the remainder of 2024 and even going into 2025.

“The tech industry has been dominated by layoffs during 2024 and I believe that it will be the headliner in 2024 and 2025,” said Vasylenko. “As a technical recruiter, it’s harder to hire people,”

Vasylenko says the hiring process has changed now compared to when she started.

“I started my career as a headhunter, nobody would apply and I would reach out to people with cold calls and email them but today it’s changed,” said Vasylenko. “I have lots of applications, emails, and requests on LinkedIn.”

Jamie Agostini, a 23-year-old indie game developer, says the industry isn’t something she wants to be a part of anymore.

“I’ve been trying to find a job in game development for almost a year now and it’s just not happening,” said Agostini. “Seeing the number is very concerning because you can definitely tell that the industry is going through changes again and I don’t want to put myself into it until I know for certain that I’m at least going to have a few years of job security,”

Agostini has worked other jobs while applying for jobs in game development but hasn’t found one yet.

“I’ve worked in fast food, retail, restaurant, basically entry-level jobs that you don’t need much experience in so that I’d be able to afford what I need until I got a job in game development,” said Agostini. “It was when the new year started that I decided to start making my own games because it’s what I wanted to do and I can make really cheap, low-quality games that the streamers will play,”