Technology Has Announced 29% of All 2026 US Job Cuts: Which Tech Roles Are Safest?

Technology employers announced 10,799 US job cuts in September 2026, the most of any industry, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Through September the sector has announced 165,925 cuts, which is 29% of all cuts announced this year. Challenger does not break cuts down by job role, so the safest roles have to be read from federal projections and hiring data.

How many tech jobs were cut in September 2026?

Technology announced 10,799 cuts in September, up 77% from 6,103 in August, per Challenger. That put it ahead of Food (7,326), Non-Profit (4,742) and Services (3,306).

Across all industries, US-based employers announced 43,281 cuts in September. That is down 18% from 52,881 in August and down 20% from 54,064 in September 2025. Challenger says it is the lowest September total since 2022.

So the overall market cooled while tech moved the other way. Tech's September figure rose even as the headline number fell.

Is technology really 29% of all 2026 job cuts?

Yes, by Challenger's count. Technology has announced 165,925 cuts through September, up 54% from 107,878 in the same period of 2025. Total cuts across all industries are 573,195 year to date, and 165,925 divided by 573,195 is about 29%.

The all-industry total is down 39% from last year, but Challenger notes that excluding Government the decline is 15%. Tech's cuts are up 54% from a year earlier while the all-industry total is down. Its monthly average this year works out to roughly 18,400.

Why is tech cutting jobs in 2026?

Employers cite several reasons. Challenger reports that AI is the leading reason year to date, with 120,136 cuts, about 21% of the total. In September, AI was the fifth-most cited reason at 3,961 cuts, about 9% of the month.

September's top reason was Market and Economic Conditions at 8,789 cuts (20%), followed by Closings (7,719), Demand Downturn (6,515) and Restructuring (6,243). Andy Challenger said, "Companies are in a wait-and-see period right now."

These are reasons companies give when they announce cuts. They are not independent measurements of what caused each decision.

Which tech roles are projected to grow?

BLS projects the fastest growth in research and security roles. Its Occupational Outlook Handbook projects 21% employment growth for information security analysts from 2025 to 2035, and 22% for computer and information research scientists. The all-occupations projection is 3%.

BLS also projects 10% growth for software developers, QA analysts and testers combined, citing "continued expansion of software development for artificial intelligence (AI)". Developers are projected at 10% and QA analysts and testers at 6%.

Pay figures are BLS medians for May 2025. BLS pages were last modified on 27 August 2026.

Which tech roles are most exposed?

Routine support and routine coding roles show the weakest outlook. BLS projects computer support specialists to decline 3% from 2025 to 2035, with user support also at -3%. The page says organisations will implement automated tools, such as chatbots, for troubleshooting.

Computer programmers face a 7% projected decline, a loss of about 8,100 jobs. BLS says companies are expected to use technologies, including AI, to automate repetitive programming tasks, and that some higher-skilled work will shift to software developers.

Network support is the exception inside support: BLS projects it to grow 1%. The title matters less than the task. Roles built around repeatable, scripted work are the ones BLS flags.

Are software engineers safer than other tech workers?

One report suggests engineers have held up better than other large-tech roles, though it is a secondary account. According to AI Weekly's summary of a SignalFire report, engineering hiring at large tech companies is down 11% from 2019 levels, against 25% across all roles.

The same summary says engineers made up 55% of new hires in 2025 at 12 major tech companies, up from 46% in 2019. It places AI displacement mainly in content creation, customer service and data entry. The summary does not name the 12 companies or the method.

What does hiring look like next to the cuts?

Tech is also hiring, but at a much smaller scale. Challenger lists Technology second among hiring industries year to date with 22,361 planned hires, behind Retail at 66,557 and ahead of Aerospace/Defense at 21,841.

Set against 165,925 announced cuts, that is roughly 7.4 cuts for every planned hire. The two are different Challenger measures, so the ratio is a rough guide to direction, not a payroll count. Overall hiring plans were 90,787 in September, down 23% from September 2025.

What should tech workers do now?

Move toward the tasks the data says are growing, and away from tasks being automated.

1. Check your task mix. If most of your week is scripted troubleshooting or repetitive code, BLS names those as the areas with falling demand.
2. Add security or AI-building skills. The two fastest-growing roles in the BLS data above both cite AI as a demand driver.
3. Look beyond the big names. Smaller and non-tech employers also hire for these skills.
4. Watch employer postings directly. Apply through the employer's own careers page, and check that the role is still open.

What's still unclear?

Several things limit how far these numbers go.

• No role breakdown. Challenger counts cuts by employer industry, not by job title. A cut at a tech company can hit recruiters, sales or finance staff, not only engineers.
• Announcements are not departures. Announced cuts may be phased in, may include non-US roles, or may be revised. Challenger's figures describe plans.
• Projections are long-range. BLS covers 2025 to 2035. A role with 10% projected growth can still see layoffs in a given quarter.
• Source quality. The engineer-resilience finding comes from a secondary summary of SignalFire data, and the method is not shown.
• Year-on-year comparison. The all-industry decline is heavily affected by last year's federal workforce reductions, which is why the ex-Government comparison (down 15%) is the fairer one.
• Which direction next. September's tech total rose after a lower August. One month does not establish a trend.