Google has laid off employees across its Cloud division over the past fortnight, Business Insider first reported, with the reductions affecting some of the company’s most prominent security teams as the company continues to restructure its workforce amid a wider industry push towards artificial intelligence investment.
Google’s Threat Intelligence Group Among Units Hit by Cloud Layoffs
The cuts reached , one of the company’s foremost security divisions and a team widely recognised for its published research on state-sponsored hackers and cyber threats, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to Business Insider. Employees within the unit began posting about the redundancies on LinkedIn following the cuts.
The reductions were not confined to a single team, the people told Business Insider. Workers at , were also affected, as were other employees within the wider Google Cloud organisation.
The precise number of those impacted has not been confirmed. In at least one instance, Google cited the need to redirect investment towards high-growth areas as justification for the decision, one of the people said.
“We regularly evaluate our internal structures to ensure we are best positioned to meet the evolving demands of our customers and the industry,” a Google spokesperson told Business Insider.
Big Tech Layoffs Accelerate as Companies Prioritise AI Investment
The are the latest in a series of workforce contractions sweeping across the technology sector, as companies justify cuts by pointing to the demands of the artificial intelligence era.
Meta laid off roughly 10 per cent of its global workforce last month. Coinbase and Block have also used AI investment priorities to explain significant headcount reductions earlier this year. Cybersecurity firms have not been spared: Cloudflare cut more than 1,100 positions last month as it prepares for what it called the “agentic AI era.”
Google itself quietly reduced staff within its Cloud division last year, Business Insider previously reported, with those earlier cuts concentrated primarily in user experience roles.
US Unemployment Claims Rise to Highest Level Since February
Against this backdrop of corporate restructuring, the broader showed fresh signs of strain. Initial applications for unemployment benefits climbed by 13,000 to 225,000 in the week ending 30 May, according to Labor Department data released on Thursday. That figure represents the highest level of weekly claims since February.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a median reading of 215,000 claims. The four-week moving average of initial applications, a measure designed to smooth out week-to-week volatility, rose to 214,750, also the highest since February. Analysts noted the Memorial Day holiday period likely contributed to some of the movement in the figures.
UK Job Cut Notices Surge to Five-Year High Amid Middle East Conflict
, where the number of workers facing potential redundancy has risen to its highest point in more than five years. More than 37,000 potential layoff notices were filed in the four weeks to 24 May, a 62 per cent increase compared with the same period a year earlier, according to data from the Insolvency Service.
The figure is the highest recorded for a four-week period since the autumn of 2020, when the British economy was navigating the depths of the pandemic. Economists have linked the deterioration in part to the economic fallout from conflict in Iran, which has driven an energy price shock expected to weigh heavily on the UK relative to other advanced economies.
The data covers only firms planning to make 20 or more redundancies, meaning the overall picture may be broader than the figures suggest.
“It’s definitely supportive of the idea that the labour market is weakening and perhaps has even started to weaken at a faster pace since the war in Iran started,” said Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics. “It supports the idea really that second round [inflation] effects are less likely.”
Bank of England Watches Jobs Data Closely Amid Wage and Inflation Pressures
pointed to a fall of roughly 100,000 in the number of payrolled employees, the steepest single-month decline since the onset of the pandemic. The Office for National Statistics cautioned, however, that the figure was likely to be subject to larger-than-normal revisions.
The Bank of England is monitoring the jobs market closely as it weighs whether workers retain sufficient bargaining power to demand wage increases in response to higher inflation, a dynamic that could complicate interest rate decisions in the months ahead.