Image for representational purpose only.
The year 2024 has not started on an inspiring note for the tech world. Most global giants such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are restructuring their manpower needs and sacking employees. Thousands of tech employees have been rendered jobless in the last few weeks. Most companies squarely blame the progress in AI for the rejig, while some others admit that a dwindling clientele has made such a move unavoidable.
A recent report said Google was planning to “reorganise” its 30,000-strong ad sales unit, as its recent advances in AI were making many jobs redundant. It has already let go of nearly 12,000 employees last month in the biggest job cut in Google’s history, with employees from the voice assistance, engineering and hardware departments getting the thickest cuts. New AI tools introduced by the company apparently suggest and create new ads without any intervention by humans; the ads are said to be more “result-oriented”. Meanwhile, in India, IT leaders have kicked off the earnings season with weak numbers. The year ahead looks extremely challenging for them as a tough macro environment is likely to force international clients to spend cautiously. Leading domestic start-ups such as Flipkart and Paytm have joined the job-cutting spree; Paytm was the first in 2024 to announce layoffs, firing nearly 1,000 employees to cut costs.
India, which produces an increasing number of software engineers year after year, hopes it is a temporary phenomenon. The latest data from tech staffing company TeamLease Digital suggests that hiring by the IT industry may continue to be muted in 2024. The domestic industry, which typically absorbs over 20 percent of the nearly 15 lakh engineering graduates every year, is likely to end up with half of it in the current financial year. Many companies have reduced their campus hirings this year as they are struggling with a demand decline in key markets such as the US. Reports suggest that several thousand freshers who bagged jobs with IT services companies are still facing onboarding delays.
Vanishing tech jobs may exacerbate India’s already-troubled unemployment scenario in this election year. The only silver lining is that there is still demand for graduates with knowledge of data science and analytics, cybersecurity, AI, machine learning and blockchain. We may have to make India’s talent pool ready for the new challenges thrown down by the IT industry.
