{
  "type": "article",
  "title": "In Just Six Months, 1.28 Lakh Tech Jobs Vanished to AI, and India Ranks Second Worldwide in Layoffs",
  "summary": "In only the first six months of 2026, more than 1.28 lakh tech workers worldwide have lost their jobs to AI, and India now stands second only to the United States on that grim list.",
  "content": "Artificial Intelligence (AI) has reshaped the technology world at a startling pace, and its heaviest blow is now landing squarely on people's jobs. Companies across the globe are adopting AI on a massive scale to work faster and cut costs, but the same technology has turned into a nightmare for employees. Fresh figures from a platform that tracks layoffs in the tech sector reveal just how badly the job market has deteriorated. What stands out most is that the first six months of 2026 alone wiped out more jobs than the whole of 2025 did.\n\nBy 1 July 2026, the number of tech workers who had lost their jobs to AI worldwide had crossed 1.28 lakh. By comparison, all of 2025 saw a total of 1.25 lakh IT professionals laid off. Given how quickly companies are embracing automation and new AI tools, it is clear this wave is not about to slow down.\n\nIndia Is the World's Second Biggest Casualty\nIn this whole crisis, India has climbed to second place globally. Between January 2020 and July 2026, the United States took the hardest hit from AI-driven tech layoffs. Of all the employees let go, 71.33% were from the US alone. India's share of the total came to 7.16%, the highest after the United States. Behind India on this list sit countries such as Germany (3.43%) and the United Kingdom (2.64%).\n\nEducation and Finance Bore the Brunt\nThe impact of AI in India has not been uniform across every field. The technology has hit workers in certain sectors far harder than others. The sectors that shed the most jobs paint a clear picture.\n\n• Education sector (EdTech): The single biggest shock landed here, accounting for 21.67% of the total layoffs.\n• Finance sector: Banking and financial services saw 14.73% of jobs affected.\n• Food industry: Food tech and delivery-related segments recorded 12.26% of the cuts.\n• Transport and consumer business: Both of these sectors also showed the door to roughly 11% of their employees each.\n\nA Crisis That Deepens Every Year\nLooking back at the numbers from recent years, the threat AI poses to jobs keeps growing larger. In 2020, around 81,000 workers lost their jobs, a figure that rose to 1.65 lakh by 2022. In 2023, it then surged to an all-time high of 2.66 lakh. There was some relief in 2024 and 2025, but the first six months of 2026 alone smashed the record of the entire previous year. These figures make it plain that as companies weave AI ever deeper into their operations, the pressure on human jobs only keeps mounting.\n\nWhat this means for you\n• For tech workers: Jobs in sectors like EdTech, finance and food tech are the most exposed, making it essential to reskill and learn AI tools now.\n• In India: India accounts for 7.16% of the world's total AI layoffs, meaning IT professionals here face a bigger threat than those in most other countries.\n\nQuestions & Answers\n\n1. How many tech jobs were lost to AI in the first six months of 2026?\nBy 1 July 2026, more than 1.28 lakh tech workers worldwide had lost their jobs to AI.\n\n2. Where does India rank globally in layoffs?\nIndia ranks second, accounting for 7.16% of all employees let go.\n\n3. Which country was hit hardest by AI layoffs?\nThe United States was hit hardest, making up 71.33% of all workers laid off.\n\n4. Which sector lost the most jobs in India?\nThe education sector, or EdTech, took the biggest hit, accounting for 21.67% of the total layoffs.\n\n5. Are the 2026 layoffs higher than in 2025?\nYes, the first six months of 2026 alone saw 1.28 lakh job cuts, compared to 1.25 lakh in all of 2025.\n\n6. In which year did layoffs reach their all-time high?\nIn 2023, the figure surged to an all-time high of 2.66 lakh.",
  "url": "https://trendkia.com/en/technology/chhaha-mahine-men-gain-1-28-lakha-teka-naukariyan-chhntani-ki-isa-mara-men-india-bana-duniya-ka-dusara-sabase-bara-shikara-4906",
  "category": "Technology",
  "publishedAt": "2026-07-05",
  "tags": [
    "AI layoffs",
    "tech jobs",
    "layoffs in India",
    "edtech layoffs",
    "automation",
    "job market",
    "IT sector"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "site": "TrendKia"
}