According to rumors in the media on Tuesday, Microsoft Corp. plans to remove thousands of employees, some of which are believed to be in the engineering and human resources departments.

The anticipated job losses would be the most recent in the US technology industry, where firms including Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. have announced reduction plans in response to sluggish demand and a worsened prognosis for the world economy.

The action by Microsoft could be a sign that employment losses in the IT industry will persist.

From a broad view, Microsoft’s impending round of layoffs indicates that the situation is not improving and probably becoming worse, according to Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff.

According to reports cited by the UK channel Sky News, Microsoft intends to eliminate 11,000 jobs or around 5% of the staff.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the firm expects to make job cuts in many technical departments on Wednesday. The insider also revealed that Microsoft may reduce its recruitment personnel by up to one-third.

As of June 30, the corporation employed 221,000 full-time employees, including 122,000 in the US and 99,000 abroad, according to documents.

After the personal computer industry suffered for several quarters, Microsoft is under pressure to keep Azure’s growth rates up. This is because Windows and device sales were negatively impacted.

A few positions had been cut back, it had started in July of last year. Axios, a news outlet, claimed in October that Microsoft has fired less than 1,000 workers from several businesses.

Microsoft’s stock was just a little bit higher in late afternoon trade; the company is scheduled to release its quarterly results on January 24.