Oman Observer tallies 93,000 layoffs
- Oman Observer said tech layoffs hit 93,000 in the first four months of 2026, with Meta’s latest cuts pushing the running total higher. - Meta’s May 20 round would bring its 2026 layoffs to 10,400, alongside 6,000 frozen openings, as AI infrastructure spending crowds out headcount. - The bigger shift is structural — AI capex is rising fast while hiring slows, especially for non-core and support roles.
Tech layoffs are climbing again, and the new number getting attention is 93,000 jobs cut across the first four months of 2026. That figure came into focus after another round at Meta, where planned cuts taking effect on May 20 would bring the company’s own 2026 total to 10,400, with 6,000 open roles left unfilled. The story here is not just that companies are trimming staff. It’s that many of them are moving money, fast, from people to compute. (omanobserver.om) ### Why is this number suddenly everywhere? Because the pace jumped. Benzinga pegged tech layoffs at more than 81,000 in the first quarter of 2026, calling that a 580% increase from the fourth quarter of 2025. Then Oman Observer pushed the count to 93,000 through the first four months of the year, (omanobserver.om) (benzinga.com) ### What changed at Meta? Meta is the cleanest example of the shift. The company has already made targeted cuts in January and March across Reality Labs, sales, operations, recruiting, and parts of Facebook’s product organization. The next round, due on May 20, is expected to take the company’s 2026 layoff(benzinga.com) visible layoff count but still shrinks the market. (omanobserver.om) ### Why are AI investments tied to job cuts? Because giant AI buildouts are expensive in a very old-fashioned way. Data centers, chips, networking gear, and power all cost real money now, not someday. Meta’s internal message, echoed in follow-up coverage, is basically that infrastructure and perso(omanobserver.om)ys a job. But it does mean companies are choosing capacity over payroll in the short term. (benzinga.com) ### Is this only a Meta story? No — Meta is just the most legible example. The broader count spans the sector, and Oman Observer had already flagged roughly 80,117 layoffs in the first three months of 2026 in an earlier r(benzinga.com)ame basic logic — automate more, simplify teams, protect margins, fund AI priorities. (omanobserver.om) ### Which jobs look most exposed? The pattern so far points less at elite technical builders and more at adjacent functions — recruiting, operations, some sales roles, support layers, and teams far from the current AI roadmap. That does not mean engineers are safe across the board. (omanobserver.om)ue-critical work while trimming everyone around them. (omanobserver.om) ### What does this do to the hiring market? It swells supply. More experienced candidates are suddenly available, often from recognizable companies, while many employers are opening fewer seats and being pickier about what those seats need to do. The catch is that this can make the market look hea(omanobserver.om) from the spending priority. (omanobserver.om) ### Does this mean 2026 will be worse than 2025? Too early to call, but the direction is ugly. Oman Observer’s earlier April tally said that if the first-quarter pace held, 2026 could end around 301,471 layoffs, above 2025’s 245,000. That is a straight-line projection, not a forecast. But it captu(omanobserver.om)y under pressure for a while. (omanobserver.om) The bottom line is simple. Tech’s AI boom is not lifting all boats. Right now it is concentrating money into infrastructure, and headcount is paying part of the bill. (omanobserver.om)
