In the past two years, the share of laid-off specialists in the information technology sector has increased from 16% to 19%. Primarily, those affected by layoffs are employees who were recently hired. This is evidenced by the results of a study conducted by Dou.
This is reported by Finway
Comparison of Layoffs in Ukraine and Abroad
Analysts note that the layoff rate abroad has been higher than in Ukraine: 22% compared to 18%. Specialists of all specializations were affected, with both technical and non-technical specialists being laid off equally often in Ukraine.
According to information from the past year, 23% of technical specialists and 18% of non-technical specialists were laid off abroad. The largest share of those laid off were developers and testers — 26% of them lost their jobs over the past year.
Structure of Layoffs and Reasons
In Ukraine, most of those laid off are Middle and Senior level specialists, making up 72% of the total number of layoffs. Abroad, Mid and Senior specialists also constitute a significant portion of those laid off (together — 71%), but the share of Seniors and Leads is higher than in Ukraine (45% vs. 38% and 15% vs. 9%).
Layoffs occurred in companies of various sizes and specializations. More than half of those laid off worked in product companies, with about a third in service companies.
Research showed that only 2% of IT professionals found themselves on the bench — half as many as in 2023. Most of them do not receive compensation: only 32% are engaged in unpaid work.
The most common reasons for layoffs among specialists over the past year were the difficult financial situation in the company (34%) and optimization and changes in work directions (33%).
Seniors and Leads in Ukraine were most often laid off due to optimization (35%). Meanwhile, Mid and Junior specialists primarily lost their jobs due to the difficult financial situation in the company (38%). Technical specialists were more frequently laid off due to financial difficulties (34%) than due to optimization (31%). Other reasons for layoffs included client withdrawal from the project (20%) and project completion (16%). Non-technical specialists predominantly lost their jobs due to optimization within the company and changes in priorities (48%).
Additionally, 23% of Leads lost their jobs due to conflicts with management, which is the highest rate among all titles. Beginners were also often laid off for this reason (16%). Poor performance was a more common reason for layoffs among non-technical specialists (17% vs. 12% among technical ones), as well as for interns and juniors (18%).