Updated Telecom-IT Layoff Tracker June 2023: Red Hat, F5, CDW, BT, More

The onslaught of tech companies announcing layoffs impacting thousands of workers continued into the second quarter of 2023.

It all comes amid economic uncertainty, but not all of the companies cutting jobs are in dire straits. Our layoff tracker is normally a biannual update, but since the start of the year, more than 40 companies doing business in the channel have announced layoffs. F5, CDW, Red Hat, Dropbox and Akamai are among the latest pink-slipping workers. The cuts are in the hundreds, and in some cases, the thousands.

Some of the layoffs are occurring despite profitable quarters and strong outlooks. For example, IBM‘s fourth-quarter earnings topped analysts’ estimates, driven by higher-than-expected growth in the company’s software and infrastructure segments. But it still cut thousands of workers.

In addition, in Observe AI’s case, layoffs significantly impacted its channel operation.

IT Job Market, Opportunities for IT Pros ‘Less Than Optimal’

According to the latest from Janco and Associates, year to date, the IT job market grew by 9,600 jobs in the first five months of 2023. That’s in contrast with 97,300 jobs that created in the same period of 2022. The number of unfilled jobs for IT pros shrank from 200,000 plus in December to just under 80,000 at the end of May.

Janco has revised its forecast for the IT job market down by over 20,000 to 60,000-70,000 from 80,000-90,000 for the calendar year 2023.

Janco’s Victor Janulaitis

“Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals is less than optimal,” said Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis. “In the first five months of 2023, the big losers were information service providers losing 8,800 jobs, telecommunications losing 3,100 and content providers losing 1,900 jobs. The jobs lost were in data center operations, administrative and HR roles related to recruiting, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I). Some roles, especially in telecommunications and data center operations, are being automated and eliminated. CIOs and CFOs are looking to improve the productivity of IT by automating processes and reporting where possible. They are focusing on eliminating ‘non-essential’ managers and staff. Experienced coders and developers still have opportunities. The highest demand continues to be for security professionals, programmers and blockchain-processing IT pros.”

See our up-to-date layoff tracker above – including those that have happened in just the past two months since our last update – for the many job cuts already this year.