U.S. layoffs surge: Here are the tech and telecommunications numbers

The U.S. job market is sailing through rough seas at the moment. Cuts for the full year have surged past the 1 million mark and the month of October saw the highest number of layoffs in 20 years, according to new data from career change firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. So, what does this mean for telecommunications and tech employees?

• Alphabet: Alphabet went through a large, painful round of cuts in 2023, but so far this year has only sporadically trimmed around the edges. Reported cuts this year include around 100 workers in its Cloud division and employee buyout offers that have been ongoing since the start of the year.
• Amazon: Just before its Q3 earnings call, reports began circulating that Amazon planned to cut 30,000 employees from its roster. On October 28, Amazon SVP Beth Galetti confirmed in a published memo it would slash at least 14,000 workers from its corporate headcount.
• Charter: An operator representative declined to provide an updated figure for the close of Q3 2025, but in late October, reports broke that Charter is planning to slash around 1,200 jobs. 
• Microsoft: The company announced plans to lay off about 1% of its workforce (or around 2,200 employees) in January and followed up with an even larger cut in May (6,000 roles). Microsoft ended its fiscal year 2025 in June with the same number of employees it had had the year prior: 228,000. But in July, Microsoft brought down the axe again, cutting another 9,000 roles.
• T-Mobile: T-Mobile this year let go of 131 workers in Washington state, and axed UScellular’s entire staff of 4,100 following its acquisition of assets.
• Verizon: Go figure, but Verizon’s headcount has actually increased in 2025, from 99,600 at the end of 2024 to 100,200 as of the end of Q3. That marks a stunning reversal from a long-term decline in Verizon’s employee base, but it could be short-lived.