Last week, online retail giant Amazon announced that it would reduce its global corporate workforce by about 14,000 people. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy had already flagged the possibility of job cuts in June, saying the increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and agents would lead to more corporate job cuts.
A week before Amazon’s announcement, the world’s biggest social media company, Meta, said it would be removing around 600 positions in its Superintelligence Labs to make its AI unit more flexible and responsive.
In July, IT service provider, Tata Consultancy Services, announced that while the company was retraining and redeploying staff in new markets, and investing and deploying new technology and AI, it would be cutting more than 12,000 jobs as part of the process. During the same month, tech behemoth Microsoft announced that it would lay off nearly 4% of its workforce to curb costs amid investments in AI.
While layoffs have sparked concerns about AI displacing jobs, the technology itself is not directly putting people out of work. Rather, investments in AI are reshaping business strategies, prompting companies to adopt new technologies, restructure workforces, and prioritise hiring employees with AI-related skills.
Thus, job displacement is an indirect consequence of how businesses are integrating AI and not the immediate effect of AI technology alone.
This year, 218 companies have collectively laid off over 1.12 lakh employees globally. This is lower than the 1.53 lakh, 2.64 lakh, and 1.65 lakh layoffs reported in 2024, 2023, and 2022, respectively. However, the average number of employees laid off per company has increased from about 221 in 2023 to nearly 517 in 2025.
The chart below shows the number of employees laid off globally in the last four years (bar), and the number of companies involved (line)
This indicates that although fewer companies are laying off employees this year, those that are doing so are cutting larger numbers at one go. Many of these companies are likely tech firms, which typically employ large numbers of people and often hire and fire in bulk. These companies are also deeply involved in AI transformation, reshaping the industry.
An industry-wise analysis shows that hardware companies, such as Intel and Lenovo, accounted for 28% of all layoffs this year. They were followed by retail companies such as Amazon, eBay, and Wayfair, which accounted for 14% of all layoffs. The sales (Salesforce) and consumer tech (Meta, Google) industries accounted for 9% and 7% of the total layoffs, respectively. The chart below shows the Industry-wise share of employees laid off in 2025.
Consequently, data show a significant rise in AI talent recruitment compared to the overall hiring rate across countries in 2024. The chart below shows the relative AI hiring rate year-over-year ratio by region. India leads in this measure with a relative AI hiring rate of over 33%, followed by Brazil and Saudi Arabia.
Data also show that the wages of workers with AI skills are 56% higher than the average salary. This is more pronounced in sectors such as wholesale and retail trade, energy and information, and communication. The chart below shows the sector-wise difference in average earnings between workers with AI skills and those without AI skills
Higher wages for workers with AI skills don’t necessarily reflect the scarcity of such workers. Instead, they reflect the high value employers place on these skills.
Global corporate investment in AI has also been increasing in recent years. In 2024, the total investment grew to $252.3 billion, almost 13 times higher than what it was a decade ago.
The charts above illustrate the broader trend: driven by a sharp rise in AI-related hiring and increased investments in technology and salaries, companies are actively restructuring their workforce to adapt to these changes.
The data for the charts were sourced from Stanford University’s Al Index 2025, layoffs.fyi and PwC’s 2025 Global Al Jobs Barometer
Published – November 04, 2025 07:00 am IST
