In 2024.. the world faces the guillotine of eliminating millions of jobs

United States – Hundreds of major companies around the world have begun a wave of layoffs and job cancellations, some of which are related to the replacement of employees by artificial intelligence, and other financial reasons related to the efforts of these companies to maximize their financial results.

Last Sunday, PricewaterhouseCoopers released the results of a survey it prepared with more than 4,700 executives around the world in more than 10 economic sectors active in 105 countries. They unanimously agreed to take actual steps to eliminate millions of jobs.

According to the survey, 25 percent of major companies around the world in various sectors are preparing to write off about 5 percent of their jobs due to artificial intelligence during the current year.

32 percent of the heads of companies active in media and entertainment are planning to cut jobs during the current year, while 28 percent of the heads of companies in the banking and financial services sector said that they have begun preparing to cut jobs.

While the percentage in the transportation and logistics sector is about 25 percent, the same in the communications sector, and 24 percent in the retail markets sector.

While 22 percent of the auto company employers polled are planning to cut jobs during the current year, while the percentage is 21 percent in the energy sector, and the same in the industrial sector.

On March 25, the Wall Street Journal compiled a list of the most prominent companies that announced plans to cut jobs in their branches around the world.

Since the end of last year, companies have begun announcing a reduction in the number of employees and focusing on efficiency, amid their commitment to exert more effort with fewer resources, after a year of widespread layoffs.

The Swedish communications equipment company “Ericsson” said that it plans to eliminate 1,200 jobs in the country, out of a total number of its employees of approximately 99.9 thousand employees, until the end of 2023.

While Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler Motors, announced the layoff of 400 employees in the United States, most of them in the automaker’s software and engineering units.

Meanwhile, the consumer goods company “Unifeller” said that it plans to separate its ice cream division into a stand-alone company, and about 7,500 jobs will be affected as part of the restructuring program.

Networking Equipment Company “Cisco” plans to reduce about 5 percent of its workforce as part of the restructuring process, as its total workforce until the end of 2023 is about 84.9 thousand employees.

Electronic signature company DocuSign said it would lay off about 6 percent of its workforce, mostly from its sales and marketing teams.

While cosmetics company Estée Lauder said it would cut up to 3,100 jobs, or about 5 percent of its workers, after several periods of weakness.

Travel company Expedia is cutting approximately 9 percent of its workforce, or about 1,500 people. At the end of last year, the company had nearly 17,000 employees.

Grocery delivery company Instacart said it will lay off about 250 employees, or about 7 percent of its employees, as it focuses on profitability.

Morgan Stanley plans to eliminate hundreds of jobs in its wealth management department, according to people familiar with the matter, whose details were reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Sports shoe company Nike said it would reduce its workforce by about 2 percent, or more than 1,600 people, in an attempt to cut costs.

While Sony will lay off about 900 employees from its PlayStation unit; The cuts represent about 8 percent of the unit’s staff and will include the closure of the PlayStation Studio in London.

While Alphabet’s Google laid off hundreds of employees at the beginning of this year, in reflection of the pandemic hiring wave that increased during that period, before it began gradual layoffs since the end of 2023.

Google laid off hundreds of employees last January, in departments including hardware and internal software tools, as the search giant continues to reverse the pandemic hiring spree.

The company said later in January that there would be more layoffs during the current year, but it did not specify how many employees would be laid off or which teams would be affected.

Also, e-commerce giant Amazon is cutting hundreds of jobs across its film and TV studio and streaming platform Twitch in an attempt to rein in costs.

BlackRock Asset Management said it would lay off about 3 percent of its workforce, or 600 employees, in addition to 600 others who were laid off last January.

Meanwhile, Citigroup Bank said that it will eliminate 20,000 jobs by the end of 2026 as part of a multi-year restructuring plan.

At the beginning of this year, the technology company Microsoft announced the layoff of 1,900 employees, or about 8 percent of its video game employees.

Anatolia