Amid AI‑driven restructuring, data shows more than 30,700 tech jobs cut worldwide, led by the US, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

A recently released report* by a foreign-exchange and payments firm has counted more than 30,700 announced layoffs worldwide, with the US job market  accounting for about 24,600 of them — roughly 80% of the total.

Based on the data, tech layoffs have surged past 30,000 globally in the first six weeks of 2026, underscoring a continuing wave of job cuts as firms restructure for the AI era.

Sweden and the Netherlands follow as the next‑hardest‑hit countries, with around 1,900 and 1,700 layoffs respectively, while India recorded about 920 cuts, and Israel about 774.

Smaller but notable reductions have also appeared in the Czech Republic, Germany, Argentina, France and the British Virgin Islands, suggesting that workforce contraction is no longer confined to a handful of large markets.

Granular layoff details
The layoff patterns reflect a structural shift rather than a short‑term economic dip: recent cuts increasingly targeted mid‑ and senior‑level roles, not just entry‑level or support functions, as firms redesign teams around automation and AI tools. Notably:

  • Amazon has been the single largest contributor so far in 2026, announcing roughly 16,000 corporate‑role eliminations in January after a prior round of about 14,000 cuts in late 2025, as it seeks to flatten management layers and pour capital into AI and cloud infrastructure. Employees in the US were given 90 days to seek internal transfers before severance and benefits packages took effect, even as the company reported robust revenue and plans capital spending that could approach US$200bn this year.
  • Meta has trimmed more than 1,000 roles from its Reality Labs division, redirecting resources toward AI and core social‑platform products
  • Payments firm Block, software vendors Autodesk and Salesforce, and others, have each cut roughly 1,000 positions as part of broader reorganizations.
  • In the US, city‑level data show Seattle leading with over 16,500 layoffs, followed by San Francisco and Menlo Park, while European hubs such as Sweden and the Netherlands absorbed heavy cuts driven by firms like Ericsson and ASML

If the current pace holds, RationalFX, the firm announcing its analysis based on data from TrueUp, TechCrunch, WARN filings and other industry trackers, estimates global tech job losses could reach about 273,000 by year‑end, exceeding 2025’s roughly 245,000.

Firms are prioritizing candidates with AI and data‑science skills, while routine administrative and operational roles remain under pressure, raising questions about whether emerging‑tech hiring can fully offset ongoing reductions.