The relentless drip of Seattle's tech layoffs
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Giant layoffs may grab headlines, but Seattle's tech sector is also enduring a seemingly relentless drip of smaller cuts — 50 jobs here, 100 there — that are taking a toll.
Why it matters: The steady drumbeat is quietly chipping away at an economic engine that powered Seattle's growth for decades.
By the numbers: An Axios review of state filings and public reports found at least 20 publicly announced rounds of cuts affecting Seattle-area workers this year.
- Just since early August, the cuts have included 52 Washington workers at Google, 59 at Salesforce, 91 at Zillow and 75 at TikTok.
- Then came 77 at T-Mobile, 121 at Amazon, 117 tied to Qualtrics' Seattle headquarters and 93 at Uber.
- And last week, Oracle announced another 359 Washington cuts — its second major round this year, bringing its statewide total to 850.
Plus: Those come on top of the year's blockbusters, including nearly 2,200 Washington cuts at Amazon, 1,395 at Meta and 605 at Microsoft.
- Other rounds include 292 at Sony-owned Bungie, about 230 at Expeditors and 162 at Expedia.
Zoom out: This drip adds up. Of the 9,027 workers affected by layoff notices in King and other counties through Aug. 18, 6,766 — three-quarters — worked in the information sector, according to the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County.
- King County had 800 fewer information jobs in July than a year earlier, even as overall employment grew by 6,700 jobs, per the Washington Employment Security Department.
- The county's 4.9% unemployment rate also topped Washington's 4.5% rate that month, state data shows.
Reality check: Layoff notices reported to the state reflect planned layoffs, not necessarily jobs ultimately lost.
- Workers can sometimes find other positions, and some announced cuts haven't happened yet, Washington chief labor economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman tells Axios.
The big picture: Still, Vance-Sherman says the broader data points to a genuine shift.
- After years of rapid growth, employment in Washington's information sector dropped in 2022-23 and has remained relatively flat since, she said.
- New hiring is now more or less keeping pace with workers leaving rather than fueling continued growth.
- "Flat is unusual for this traditionally high-growth sector," Vance-Sherman said. "I think it is fair to say that the sector is in the midst of a shift."
The bottom line: No single small tech cut transforms Seattle's economy.
- But added together, month after month, they're a striking sign of the tech sector's shift from relentless expansion toward something less familiar: standing still.