Intel, Meta Get The Headlines, But It's Uncle Sam (DOGE) Who's Bleeding Workers In 2025

Tech might be the face of layoffs, but in 2025, it's the federal government racking up the body count.

Layoff Numbers Speak For Themselves

Sure, Intel Inc INTC grabbed headlines in April when it laid off a staggering 22,000 workers – its second major bloodletting after a 15,000 cut last August. But while Silicon Valley slashed 52,340 jobs across 123 companies so far this year, data collated by Layoffs.fyi suggests that Washington, DC has been responsible for 171,843 firings, including 61,296 ordered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Let that sink in—DOGE has laid off more people than Meta Platforms Inc META, Alphabet Inc’s Google GOOGL GOOG, Amazon.com Inc AMZN and Microsoft Corp MSFT combined.

DOGE Layoffs Easily Outnumber Tech

Unlike tech's boom-bust cycle, this appears to be methodical. DOGE has trimmed 27.3% of the Departments of Health and Human Services, 23.5% of Transportation and 13.3% of Defense. The Treasury Department, Housing and Urban Development and State Department got off lightly – for now – with cuts under 3%.

Tech is downsizing – but the government is undergoing a sweeping, department-wide shake-up.

Back in Silicon Valley, Intel leads the layoffs, slashing 37,000 jobs in two rounds. Meta's downsizing continues with a fresh 3,600 cut in February. Tesla Inc's TSLA April 2024 layoff of 14,000 now looks like old news.

But here's the twist: While tech layoffs tend to spark investor optimism and stock bumps, the DOGE-driven purge may have the opposite effect – slower bureaucratic throughput, reduced regulatory oversight and mounting labor tension.

And yet, the headlines? All about tech.

The takeaway: The bigger workforce upheaval is happening in D.C., not Silicon Valley.

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