Tech layoffs have picked up. Expect more.

Reuters reported on Saturday that Meta Platforms is planning to conduct an initial wave of layoffs on May 20, with more coming later this year. The report, citing sources familiar with the matter, said that Meta plans to lay off about 10% of its global workforce, or close to 8,000 employees, in that initial round. Meta didn’t respond to a Barron’s request for comment.

A sweeping round of layoffs at Meta would add to a growing number of job cuts in the tech space this year. According to Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks tech layoffs, 81,272 tech employees have been laid off so far in 2026. That’s more than half of the 124,201 total tech layoffs the website reported in 2025.

Oracle, Amazon.com, Atlassian, Block, and Snap are among the tech firms that have implemented job cuts this year. These layoffs are happening as the public discourse around the risk artificial intelligence has on jobs rises. According to a 2025 Pew Research study, 64% of the public thinks AI will lead to fewer jobs over the next 20 years.

However, research so far shows that AI replacing workers isn’t the root cause of these tech layoffs. Forrester Research estimated in a January report that just 6% of jobs in the U.S. will be automated by 2030.

“While AI could account for 6% of total US job losses, equating to 10.4 million roles, widespread AI-driven job replacement remains unlikely, as labor productivity would need to accelerate significantly for AI to replace human talent at scale,” Forrester said in the report.

Even though AI isn’t replacing jobs at this point, experts say the technology is impacting tech companies’ layoff decisions.

“I think the real reasons are pandemic era over-hiring and slower growth, and also a pressure to improve margins while they are spending a lot of money on AI,” Peter Cohen, associate professor of practice of management at Babson College told Barron’s.

Whether its dishing out billions to build out the infrastructure to power AI, or investing in new AI products to try to improve productivity, companies are investing massive amounts of money on AI. Wall Street wants to see these investments paying off.

“If you think about the last three years, for most, 2024 was about defining AI strategy, 2025 was to start testing, and 2026 now is really about showing the returns on those investments,” Francesca Luthi, a former global operations executive and board advisor, told Barron’s. “So at this point, head count reductions are an opportunity to realize those savings and support the bottom line.”

Because of this, it isn’t likely tech layoffs will slowdown anytime soon.

“As the amount of money that’s being spent by these so-called hyperscalers and Neo clouds keeps going up, I think you’re going to see a need to reduce spending in other places to preserve margins,” Cohen said.

The future might not look so bleak. Forrester wrote in its report that rather than eliminating roles, AI can augment 20% of jobs over the next five years. That would make it essential for businesses to invest in developing employee skills to work with the evolving tech, as opposed to the tech replacing workers all-together.

Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com