Technology-driven companies across industries have been laying off workers at the fastest pace since the Covid-19 pandemic shocked the global economy in 2020, according to one data tracker.

Collectively, employers in the slumping tech sector cut more than 150,000 jobs in 2022, based on estimates from Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks the events as they surface in media reports and company releases. That figure compares with about 80,000 layoffs in March-December 2020 and 15,000 in all of 2021, based on data compiled on the site. Consumer and retail were the two hardest-hit parts of the tech sector in 2022, combining for about 40,000 layoffs. Facebook parent Meta Platforms accounted for roughly half of the cuts in the consumer group, while Amazon represented about half of those in retail. Travel-related tech companies were hit hard by layoffs in 2020 because of lockdowns and pandemic travel restrictions. The figures are rough estimates and don`t capture all layoffs, but reflect a trend that is playing out in many of the largest tech companies.

(Adapted from `Tech Layoffs Are Happening Faster Than at Any Time During the Pandemic,` by Andrew Barnett and Ming Li, published on January 3, 2023, by The Wall Street Joumal)