Washington state was outpaced only by California in the number of tech workers laid off last year.
More than 11,000 tech workers in Washington lost their jobs between May 2025 and April of this year, according to research from the workforce intelligence company Revelio Labs shared with KUOW.
FILE — Employees walking in Amazon's Seattle headquarters.
Megan Farmer / Megan Farmer
“ I did plot the layoffs going back to 2015, and they are elevated,” said Revelio Labs Chief Economist Lisa Simon, referencing national data. “Between 2019 and 2015, we saw 2,000 monthly layoffs, on average, and now we’re seeing more like 6,000. So, yes, elevated since 2022.”
Related: Tech layoffs drive Seattle-area unemployment above 5%
But Simon said those layoffs still comprise a tiny fraction of the overall labor market. The bigger change she sees in the tech workforce is the slowdown in hiring.
“ I think the bigger margin of adjustment is the lack of hiring … that rate keeps just ticking down, down, down, down consecutively every month,” she said.
So far this year, more than 4,000 workers in Washington’s information sector have been laid off, according to state filings compiled by Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County. That’s outpacing 2025 and 2024. Those layoffs were driven by Amazon, Oracle, and Meta, among others.
Even so, Amazon continues to defend its title as the top company for job openings in Washington state, according to the WDC data. That’s a sharp contrast with Microsoft, which saw a 46% decline in job openings over the past month.
Related: Amazon layoffs include more than 2,000 jobs in Seattle area
“ There’s a lot more people still employed in tech than getting laid off by many, many multiples,” Simon said. “But it’s also just an example of such a concentrated city where it must feel like everybody’s working in tech in Seattle.”
Simon said it’s difficult to tell from the data if artificial intelligence is driving these layoffs.
“ I think it’s just betting on the fact that people are going to get much more productive using AI tools and in anticipation of that happening, not making the hire or cutting off some of the workforce even though we’re not fully seeing these increases in productivity just yet.”
Related: A tech worker in China is laid off and replaced by AI. Is it legal?
Monica Nickelsburg is a reporter with the KUOW newsroom. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
