Microsoft Cuts Over 9,000 Jobs in Latest AI-Driven Layoff Round
Microsoft eliminates up to 4 percent of its global workforce, heavily impacting software engineers and gaming staff. The Communication Workers of America voices deep disappointment as the tech giant continues restructuring despite ongoing financial prosperity.
Microsoft expands a long run of layoffs by announcing a workforce reduction of up to 4 percent, or about 9,100 jobs. These cuts add to the over 8,000 layoffs the company makes earlier this year, bringing the total impact to over 7 percent of its global workforce. Although company executives claim the goal is to remove layers of management to increase agility, over 40 percent of the job cuts so far in 2025 target software engineering roles.
The layoffs hit Microsoft's home state of Washington the hardest, but the reductions affect employees globally, including locations in California, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. While most of the affected workers are not unionized, a minority of gaming employees are represented by the Communication Workers of America (CWA). The union expresses deep disappointment in the decision to lay off thousands of workers while the company continues to prosper and states it plans to bargain with Microsoft over the cuts.
Current and former employees describe a perpetual climate of fear inside the company due to a continuous parade of monthly layoffs rather than a single decisive event. Online discussions highlight the limitations of union contracts in preventing mass corporate restructuring, pointing out that labor organizations primarily negotiate severance and terms rather than stopping job eliminations entirely. The ongoing cuts reflect a broader trend across the tech industry as companies prioritize artificial intelligence investments over traditional human labor.