Rambling Rows https://rrows.net/uploads/2026/rrows-icon-sq-144px.png https://rrows.net/ https://rrows.net/categories/jobs/ en Fri, 19 Jun 2026 08:23:55 +1000 https://rrows.net/2026/06/19/the-ai-layoff-wave-is.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rrows Fri, 19 Jun 2026 08:23:55 +1000 http://rrows.micro.blog/2026/06/19/the-ai-layoff-wave-is.html <p>Tech companies are posting record profits while laying off tens of thousands of people and citing AI as the explanation. So far in 2026: 363 layoffs, nearly 150,000 people, 974 per day - 44% faster than last year, per <a href="https://www.trueup.io">TrueUp</a>. May was the highest single month in two years. AI was the most cited layoff reason across every industry for the third month running.</p> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/202171/2026/ai-layoffs-chart.webp" width="600" height="1014" alt=""> <p>The chart above makes it concrete. Oracle: up to 30,000 gone. Amazon: 16,000 in a month. Dell cut 11,000 while projecting AI server revenue could double by 2027. Meta laid off 8,000 and moved 7,000 into AI roles simultaneously - a restructure dressed as a reckoning.</p> <p>The scepticism is growing. No example is sharper than Block. Jack Dorsey insisted the cuts were about AI enabling &ldquo;a new way of working.&rdquo; When pressed on the pandemic bloat he had created, he acknowledged Block had overhired.</p> <p>That is the tell. AI is doing a lot of heavy lifting for decisions with a simpler explanation: companies overstaffed in 2020-2022 and are now correcting. AI sounds forward-looking. Overhiring sounds like poor management.</p> <p>Full analysis: <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/15/the-ai-layoff-wave-is-becoming-a-powder-keg/">TechCrunch</a>.</p>