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Dell Will Cut 5% of Its Global Workforce, About 6,500 Jobs

The wave of technology layoffs picks up. Bloomberg reports due to Plunging PC Sales, workers at Dell are the latest casualty. 

After a pandemic-era PC boom, Dell and other hardware makers have seen cratering demand. Industry analyst IDC said preliminary data show personal computer shipments dropped sharply in the fourth quarter of 2022. Among major companies, Dell saw the largest decline — 37% compared with the same period in 2021, according to IDC. Dell generates about 55% of its revenue from PCs.

Clarke told workers that previous cost-cutting measures, including a pause on hiring and limits on travel, are no longer enough. The department reorganizations, along with the job reductions, are viewed as an opportunity to drive efficiency, the spokesperson said.

Layoffs have hammered the tech sector in recent months, including many of Dell’s peers and competitors. HP Inc., similarly exposed to the PC market, announced in November a reduction of as many as 6,000 workers. Cisco Systems Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. each said they would eliminate about 4,000 workers. The tech sector announced 97,171 job cuts in 2022, up 649% compared with the previous year, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

After the reduction, the headcount for Round Rock, Texas-based Dell will be its lowest in at least six years — about 39,000 fewer employees than in January 2020. Only about one-third of the company employees are US-based, according to a March 2022 filing. 

Expect another chorus on Twitter that these technology jobs don’t matter because the service sector is strong. 

McDonalds is still hiring. 

This post originated on MishTalk.Com.

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16 Comments
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Oldest Most Voted
Maximus_Minimus
Maximus_Minimus
3 years ago
5% cut seems to be the magic number. Wall Street says great. 10% would scream panic.
8dots
8dots
3 years ago
After buying VMware Michael Dell dumped it 2 years ago. Dell buy online beat brick & mortar super stores and salesmen selling computers.
8dots
8dots
3 years ago
The new high tech is in the energy sector. Small innovators co, supported by major co or players, are testing new solutions. Within
few years they will emerge. There will be a shift away from CA. CA will lead in the RE collapse.
Casual_Observer2020
Casual_Observer2020
3 years ago
If there was a tech employment boom during covid, stands to reason that will be reversed now.
KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
I guess this means the BLS won’t be surveying Dell for employment info for a while.
tractionengine
tractionengine
3 years ago
I think the tech layoff story is insignificant statistically and I don’t see it as a symptom of an underlying or structural problem. This is a minor and normal readjustment to a changing market in one small corner of the overall economy. Nothing to see here, move along please.
atryingshepherd
atryingshepherd
3 years ago
Reply to  tractionengine
exactly, put your 401K in science and technology and sleep good at night
KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
Reply to  tractionengine
Are there any layoff announcements that you would consider significant?
TechLover
TechLover
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
Most of tech layoffs are indeed insignificant. They are announcements for global layoffs so the numbers look very large. IT employment is about 3% of US workforce so even if they lose, 20-30% of workforce in that sector, there will be no meaningful impact on overall labor market which remains extremely tight for now (to the extreme chagrin of Mr. Powell).
The real impact will be when industries that employ large portion of US labor force start to do mass layoffs. I expect the first one of these will be retail followed by hospitality or building (trades). Both Hospitality and Building have huge shortfall as of now so it may be a while before we see meaningful cuts in those sectors.
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
3 years ago
Reply to  TechLover
Just to be clear, Dell is not a tech company or at least not what I consider a tech company. I lived in Austin for several years and knew quite a few Dell employees (including a couple Dellionaires) and none of them were doing tech work.
They are just a PC maker. Probably 98% of their employees do nothing related to tech and the last 2% do some custom Dell apps on their PCs and Laptops. So if they lay off a bunch of sales people or middle management or guys assembling PC’s, those are not tech jobs that are disappearing.
8dots
8dots
3 years ago
In Jan 31 2020, before covid, Dell peaked. It’s now 40K below, mostly overseas employees. 40K isn’t good enough. After 2Y at 133K level, layoffs cont. In 2025 Dell will emerge much leaner, possibly under 100K, at least 1/3 down. The dangling crane above Michael Dell cigar butt penthouse put a spell on his co.
rktbrkr
rktbrkr
3 years ago
PC business is mature and coming off a “work from home” Covid boom. A lot of people bought PCs with their gummint checks. I see lots of parked Amazon delivery vans as people return to store shopping. These are among the post covid losers. But overall there is more business and social activity. Prices to consumers will soften as supply line kinks work out. Price gouging is another problem that hasn’t been addressed. Congress is stupid but not stupid enough to bite the hand that feeds it.
TechLover
TechLover
3 years ago
Reply to  rktbrkr
Schools bought a ton of computers as well with remote learning. Every kid got a new computer. A lot of personal computing demand was pulled off from future sales. The average life of a personal computing device is 3 years so look for lower demand for another year or two.
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
3 years ago
Reply to  TechLover
Are you sure they were buying actual computers and not tablets?
Here in Florida they are buying Google Chrome tablets for the school kids (my daughter gets one every year and she’s now in grade 9). Those are not PC’s, at least not in the manner of what Dell sells (Microsoft PC’s for businesses) and they are plenty good enough to stream video and do work on.
TechLover
TechLover
3 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
Good point regarding tablets vs PCs. Tablets are substitutes in many cases for PCs though. So if a huge number of tablets were sold, it will reduce the demand for PCs for students.
LostNOregon
LostNOregon
3 years ago
Reply to  TechLover
I am still happy with my 14 year old Dell XPS laptop. The big (17″) beast just keeps working although it’s giving hints that end times are coming. It has been an amazing computer, being dragged all over the world in my backpack.

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