Layoff Trackers Are a Sham, They're Like US 'Unemployment Data'
'Unemployment data' in the US (with scare quotes) typically refers to something that is not unemployment. The numbers they give out might be "percent of people actively (currently) looking for a job", which is not the same as unemployment. To some extent, the same or similar things are measured and advertised in other countries.
Layoff trackers are similarly misleading as they only measure what companies openly admit and register with WARN notices. At Microsoft, there are vastly more 'voluntary' layoffs (a.k.a. secret layoffs or silent layoffs) than there are "classic layoffs", i.e. the sorts of layoffs that obey the WARN Act by openly disclosing their existence.
We typically focus on IBM layoffs and Microsoft layoffs, but that does not mean other companies do not follow the same playbook or blueprint.
So if some site says "xyz" layoffs "in 2026" or "hey hi" driven layoffs or all sorts of aggregates (with excuses du jour) we can safely discard/ignore because they look at the part of the iceberg that's above the water's surface. █
Published last year: Why Government Data on "Job Openings" is Typically a Lie (Perpetrated in Part by Corporations)