IT Workers Have Lost Confidence in Their Industry — Glassdoor Data Shows Why

If you work in tech, you already feel it — the constant restructuring announcements, the hiring freezes, the unsettling silence where job postings used to be. Now the data confirms what many IT professionals have been sensing for months. According to Glassdoor's Employee Confidence Index, only 47.8% of technology workers hold a positive six-month business outlook for their employers, a stunning 7.1 percentage point drop from the 55% recorded just one year ago. That makes tech the fastest-declining sector for worker morale in the entire U.S. labor market. Metaintro breaks down what the numbers reveal, what is driving this historic confidence collapse, and what IT workers can do to protect their careers in an industry that is rapidly reshaping itself around artificial intelligence.

What Does the Glassdoor Data Actually Show?

Glassdoor's Employee Confidence Index tracks the percentage of workers who believe their employer's business outlook will improve over the next six months. It is one of the most widely cited barometers of workplace sentiment in the United States, drawing on millions of anonymous employee reviews submitted to the platform each year.

The February 2026 reading for the technology sector landed at 47.8%, down from 55% in February 2025. That 7.1-point decline is not just significant — it is the largest year-over-year drop of any industry tracked by Glassdoor. For context, the overall U.S. employee confidence index sits at approximately 45.9%, meaning tech workers are barely above the national average despite historically being among the most optimistic sectors in the economy.

Daniel Zhao, Glassdoor's Lead Economist, described the current environment as "more weeks of winter for workers," noting that even as the broader job market shows scattered signs of improvement, the tech sector remains stuck in a "leaner for longer" cycle. "Tech workers can see the soft job market out there," Zhao told CIO Dive. "They know they have less leverage right now, and that's bleeding into how they feel about their current jobs."

The numbers are especially striking when compared to sectors that are holding relatively steady. Glassdoor data shows that healthcare has experienced a much smaller year-over-year confidence decline of just 2.9 percentage points, while consumer-facing industries like hotels, travel, and food service have actually seen confidence improve. Government and public administration, despite the turbulence of a 2025 federal shutdown, posted a slight month-over-month uptick heading into 2026. Technology, once the sector that set the standard for employee optimism, now finds itself at the bottom of the confidence rankings.

What Is Driving the Confidence Collapse?

The single biggest factor is layoffs — and the pace is accelerating. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, companies in the technology sector announced more than 33,000 job cuts in the first weeks of 2026, representing a 51% increase over the same period in 2025. By March, that figure had climbed past 45,000, with an estimated 9,200 of those cuts directly attributed to AI implementation and automation-driven restructuring, according to RationalFX analysis.

The geography of these cuts tells its own story. Seattle, home to tech giants Amazon and Microsoft, tops the list with 16,590 employees affected worldwide. San Francisco follows with 9,395 layoffs. These are not just numbers on a spreadsheet — they represent entire engineering teams, product divisions, and support organizations being dissolved or restructured around AI-driven workflows.

What makes this cycle different from previous downturns is the emergence of what researchers are calling "forever layoffs." As Fortune reported, companies have shifted away from large, headline-grabbing rounds of cuts toward a continuous trickle of smaller reductions. The strategy keeps individual announcements below the media radar, but the cumulative effect is devastating for morale. Rolling layoffs "create cultures of anxiety, insecurity, and resentment," researchers note, because employees never know when the next round is coming — or whether their role is next.

Amazon provides a case study in this pattern. The company reduced its corporate workforce by 16,000 employees in early 2026, following 14,000 corporate layoffs in October 2025. Together, those 30,000 cuts amount to roughly 10% of Amazon's entire corporate workforce, as reported by CNN. Yet because the reductions were spread across multiple rounds and business units, no single announcement generated the public outcry that a one-time cut of that magnitude would have produced.

How Is AI Anxiety Reshaping the IT Workforce?

Layoffs alone do not explain the full picture. A growing undercurrent of AI-related anxiety is amplifying the confidence decline in ways that previous tech downturns did not. Unlike the dot-com bust or the 2008 financial crisis — both of which were driven by economic shocks that eventually passed — the current wave of restructuring is being framed as a permanent structural shift in how technology companies operate.

Companies like Amazon and Microsoft have explicitly linked workforce reductions to a pivot toward "AI-first" operational models, often reallocating payroll budgets into multi-billion-dollar data center expansions. CBS News reported that a growing number of companies are now citing AI as the direct reason for layoffs, with firms like Block and Pinterest pointing to automation as they reorganize around more efficient, technology-driven workflows.

The term "AI-washing" has entered the corporate vocabulary to describe this phenomenon. As Fortune documented, some companies are using AI as a convenient justification for cuts that are actually driven by broader cost-cutting goals or slowing revenue growth. Whether the layoffs are genuinely AI-driven or merely AI-branded, the effect on worker confidence is the same: IT professionals feel their skills are being devalued and their roles are being automated away, even when the reality is more nuanced.

The numbers put this in perspective. Of the 1.2 million job cuts U.S. companies announced in 2025, AI was explicitly mentioned as a reason for just 55,000, or roughly 4.5%, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. But that statistic understates the psychological impact. When major employers publicly declare they are building "AI-first" organizations, every employee in every department hears the message — and wonders where they fit in the new order.

As Metaintro CEO Lacey Kaelani told Spiceworks, the real challenge is that the hiring process itself is caught in an "AI recruiting doom loop" — companies are automating recruitment while simultaneously cutting the roles those systems are supposed to fill, leaving job seekers stuck between algorithmic gatekeepers and shrinking opportunity.

Which IT Sectors and Roles Are Hit Hardest?

The confidence decline is not hitting all corners of the tech industry equally. Data from layoff trackers and industry reporting reveals a clear pattern in which types of roles and companies are most affected.

Enterprise software and cloud infrastructure companies have been among the most aggressive cutters. Amazon, Microsoft, Block, eBay, and Pinterest have all announced significant workforce reductions in 2026, with many explicitly tying the cuts to AI integration. Mid-level engineering roles, project management positions, and traditional IT support functions appear to be the most vulnerable, as companies look to consolidate layers of human oversight that AI tools can partially or fully automate.

The startup ecosystem is also under pressure, though for different reasons. Venture capital funding has tightened, and many startups that over-hired during the 2021-2022 boom are now right-sizing their teams to extend runway. Biotech and health-tech startups have been particularly affected, with companies like Theravance Biopharma and BioAtla announcing layoffs in early 2026.

On the other hand, certain tech-adjacent roles are actually seeing increased demand. Cybersecurity professionals, AI/ML engineers who build and maintain the very systems displacing other roles, and cloud architects with expertise in deploying large-scale AI infrastructure remain in high demand. CIO Dive reported that while overall tech hiring sentiment is down, specialized AI roles are commanding premium salaries, creating a bifurcated market where a narrow slice of the workforce thrives while the majority faces uncertainty.

Global regulatory concerns are adding another layer of complexity. Tariffs, export controls on semiconductor technology, and broader economic uncertainty are all contributing to what Glassdoor economists describe as a "tepid" hiring environment for the sector. Companies are not just cutting — they are also freezing open positions, extending hiring timelines, and consolidating roles, all of which contribute to the sense that the industry is contracting even when total employment numbers have not yet shown a dramatic decline.

What Should IT Workers Do Now?

A declining confidence index does not mean the tech industry is dying — it means the industry is transforming, and the workers who adapt strategically will come out ahead. Here is what the data suggests IT professionals should be doing right now.

First, invest in AI-adjacent skills rather than competing with AI directly. The market is rewarding professionals who can work alongside AI systems — deploying them, managing them, auditing their outputs, and integrating them into existing business processes. Certifications in machine learning operations, prompt engineering, AI governance, and responsible AI deployment are increasingly valued by employers, according to Spiceworks reporting on what employers actually want in 2026.

Second, consider broadening your job search beyond traditional tech companies. Healthcare, financial services, and government agencies are all investing heavily in technology infrastructure, but their employee confidence levels are significantly more stable. A senior developer or cloud architect at a hospital system or insurance company may find better job security — and comparable compensation — than a peer at a pure-play tech firm currently undergoing its third round of "efficiency improvements."

Third, strengthen your professional network now, not when you need it. Glassdoor economist Daniel Zhao noted that "even though the market might be sluggish and budgets might be tight, investing in employees is critical long-term." The same logic applies in reverse — investing in relationships, visibility, and reputation during a downturn positions you to move quickly when the market inevitably turns.

Fourth, evaluate your current employer's stability with clear eyes. If your company has conducted multiple rounds of layoffs, publicly announced an "AI-first" strategy, or frozen hiring across most departments, those are signals worth taking seriously. Review your company's Glassdoor reviews, check industry layoff trackers like Layoffs.fyi and TrueUp, and pay attention to whether your organization is investing in people or primarily in infrastructure.

Finally, remember that confidence is cyclical. The tech industry has been through downturns before — the 2001 dot-com crash, the 2008 recession, and the 2022-2023 correction all felt existential at the time, and all were followed by periods of renewed growth and hiring. The difference this time is that the recovery may look different, with fewer traditional roles and more AI-augmented positions. Positioning yourself at the intersection of human judgment and AI capability is the most durable career strategy for the years ahead.

People Also Asked

Q: Why is tech worker confidence falling faster than other industries?

A: Technology workers face a unique combination of ongoing layoffs, AI-driven role displacement, and the "forever layoffs" pattern where companies make continuous small cuts rather than one large restructuring. Unlike healthcare or government workers, tech employees also face the added anxiety that the very tools their industry builds — AI and automation — are the ones most likely to reshape or eliminate their positions.

Q: How many tech workers have been laid off in 2026?

A: As of March 2026, more than 45,000 tech workers have been affected by layoffs, according to industry tracking data. This figure represents a significant increase over the same period in 2025, with Challenger, Gray & Christmas reporting a 51% year-over-year jump in announced tech job cuts. Major companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Block, and eBay are among the largest contributors.

Q: Are tech jobs still worth pursuing in 2026?

A: Yes, but the landscape has shifted. While traditional IT roles like help desk support and mid-level project management face headwinds, specialized positions in AI/ML engineering, cybersecurity, cloud architecture, and AI governance are seeing strong demand and premium compensation. The key is targeting roles that complement AI systems rather than compete with them, and considering tech-enabled positions in more stable sectors like healthcare and financial services.

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