Punxsutawney Phil, the designated groundhog of Groundhog Day, has predicted six extra weeks of tech trade layoffs after rising from his burrow and seeing his personal shadow final week. Okay, so Phil was really predicting six extra weeks of winter, however that seems to be roughly the identical factor this yr. Dell introduced an enormous spherical of 6550 layoffs this morning, the most recent in a protracted string of high-profile job cuts from the trade’s greatest firms.

According to Reuters, the job cuts quantity to roughly 5 % of Dell’s 133,000 world headcount. Both the corporate and the trade as an entire is dealing with a lull in PC sales because the preliminary rush of the pandemic slows to a crawl. Dell had beforehand tried to tighten its belt with a hiring freeze and fewer company journey.

Dell follows Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Intel, HP, Lenovo, and dozens of different firms late final yr and into 2023 in making vital job cuts. The pattern is in stark distinction to the roles market as an entire, which is growing at a record-setting pace within the United States. The glut of all of a sudden unemployed tech staff is having some unusual results: the US National Security Agency is now overtly courting former staff at main tech firms.