Mass tech layoffs appear to be over – so when will the hiring start again?
The episode of mass job cuts across the tech sector appears to have drawn to a close, with some research firms halting their regular data updates on tech layoffs.
Tech analysts at Bernstein Research declared the “magnitude of tech layoffs” has settled after its peak in January, in an email sent to clients last Friday seen by Morning Wire
It read: “The cost-cutting playbook is largely over for the companies that can afford to pivot back to growth again.”
Bernstein, which has offices in London, New York, and Hong Kong, also recently said it has ended its monthly data updates on layoffs in the tech industry, which they have run for around a year.
Using data from trueup.io, an online tech job marketplace, their final update recently showed fewer than 5,000 tech job cuts so far this month, with forecasts for the whole of August reaching 11,000.
This is far below the 76,000 jobs lost in January this year, according to data from layoffs.fyi.
In the first six months of this year there were more than 300,000 job losses across the sector.
In a recent email to clients, Bernstein said: “Tech layoffs have slowed to a trickle. When will the hirings start to re-accelerate?”
Soon, could be the answer. Research published by Statista in July suggests that, by 2025, there will be over 678,000 additional jobs available in the UK’s digital sector.
London will have the highest amount of any region, with over 261,000 new tech and IT jobs, followed by the South East with more than 129,000.
Speaking to City A.M. Roger Lee, founder of layoffs.fyi, said: “Tech layoffs are down from their peak earlier this year, but they still remain elevated.
“The layoffs are likely to persist until interest rates stabilise and ideally start declining.”
However, Josh Brenner, chief executive of job search marketplace Hired, told Morning Wire that tech hiring is “rebounding” in the UK, “albeit at a slow rate”.
He explained: “Since July, we’ve observed a subtle uptick in active positions for tech job seekers based in the UK on our platform.
“While the market hasn’t experienced significant gains, employers’ interest in tech jobseekers has stabilised compared to the month-over-month declines observed from the beginning of the year through June.”
On Hired’s platform, data analytics, engineering management, and quality assurance roles have experienced the largest surge in active positions.
Demand for cybersecurity and cloud computing engineers has also risen, “which could be attributed to companies’ desire to invest in infrastructure and prioritise network efficiency”, said Brenner.
Hired anticipates the UK tech market could stabilise by the end of the year, especially with increased demand coming from cities outside of London, such as Newcastle, Leeds, and Bristol.