Job cuts at Meta, Epic Games, but new unemployment claims hold steady
Job cuts at Meta, Epic Games, but new unemployment claims hold steady
Emma OckermanThu, March 26, 2026 at 4:35 PM UTC
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The layoff announcements keep coming.
Meta (META) laid off roughly 700 workers across multiple divisions on Wednesday, while Fortnite publisher Epic Games announced on Tuesday that it was slashing over 1,000 roles amid a “downturn in Fortnite engagement,” CEO Tim Sweeney said in a memo to staff.
The companies’ cuts follow much larger planned layoffs earlier this year at top employers like Amazon and UPS, as well as continued warnings that AI could dramatically reshape labor markets.
Despite simmering anxiety surrounding layoffs, though, applications for unemployment benefits continue to be relatively steady. Initial claims for jobless aid for the week ending March 21 rose by 5,000 from the week prior, reaching 210,000. The number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance on an ongoing basis, meanwhile, slid to the lowest level in nearly two years, hitting 1.82 million.
AI is ‘a thing now’
In Epic’s layoff announcement, Sweeney addressed the elephant in the room.
“Since it's a thing now, I should note that the layoffs aren't related to AI,” Sweeney wrote. “To the extent it improves productivity, we want to have as many awesome developers developing great content and tech as we can.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, on the other hand, had previously said in a January call following Meta’s fourth quarter earnings results that AI would begin “to dramatically change the way that we work” in 2026, noting “we're starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person.”
A spokesperson for Meta said in a statement that “teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they’re in the best position to achieve their goals.”
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But, despite a lot of hype, there’s so far “little evidence of near-term aggregate employment declines due to AI,” researchers from the Atlanta Fed, Richmond Fed, and Duke University wrote in a recent working paper. Still, their survey of more than 700 corporate executives also found “larger companies anticipate AI-driven workforce reductions, while smaller firms expect modest gains.”
Do you have a story about navigating the job market? Reach out to Emma Ockerman here.
As of January, the layoff rate, or the number of layoffs as a share of total employment, remained low at 1%.
But with a hiring rate stuck well below pre-pandemic levels and little in the way of job growth, anyone looking for work is finding it increasingly difficult to gain a foothold in the labor market.
Next week will bring a fresh picture of just how tough the situation actually is, with the Labor Department posting the unemployment rate and payroll growth for March in addition to job openings and layoffs for February. The Chicago Fed currently sees the unemployment rate rising to 4.46% from February’s level of 4.44%.
Emma Ockerman is a reporter covering the economy and labor for Yahoo Finance. You can reach her at emma.ockerman@yahooinc.com.
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