--- title: "Google Lays Off 200 Workers to Replace Them With Cheaper International Workers" description: "Google has decided to gut 200 members of its \"core\" team and start replacing their jobs in cheaper labor markets." date: "2024-05-02" modified: "2024-05-02" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-lays-off-workers-replaces-international" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Future Society" - "Google" tags: - "alphabet" - "Google" - "layoffs" - "the digest" --- # Google Lays Off 200 Workers to Replace Them With Cheaper International Workers ![Google has decided to gut 200 members of its "core" team and start replacing their jobs in cheaper labor markets.]() *\Image: Beata Zawrzel / NurPhoto via Getty / Futurism\* ## Core Sample Google is gutting hundreds of workers from its "Core" team and replacing their jobs with cheaper international labor as it continues its [pivot to AI](). As [*CNBC* reports](), the search giant laid off at least 200 people ahead of an April 25 [quarterly earnings call]() that saw its parent company, Alphabet, report an uptick in sales and a [14 percent jump]() in share value, both of which outpaced analyst estimates. Tasked with building out the foundations of the company's products and helping keep users safe, the core unit umbrella oversees teams related to information technology, code development, infrastructure, and security. News of the layoffs comes after [prior reports]() indicated that Google was cutting jobs to cut costs and restructure the business amid its [AI efforts](), with many of the eliminated American roles being replaced with identical jobs abroad. At least a quarter of the cuts took place at the company's Sunnyvale, California campus, impacting the engineering team there. According to internal documents viewed by *CNBC*, Google plans to hire for corresponding roles in Mexico and India. "We intend to maintain our current global footprint while also expanding in high-growth global workforce locations so that we can operate closer to our partners and developer communities," Aasim Hussain, vice president of the Google Developer Ecosystem, said in an email to staff announcing the layoffs. ## Writing On The Wall While these cuts are substantial and [potentially harmful](), they didn't exactly come without warning. Just a year after [laying off 12,000 people]() in January 2023, CEO Sundar Pichai teased in a company-wide memo that there would be [more cuts to come]() in 2024 amid the company's [big AI push](). "We have ambitious goals and will be investing in our big priorities this year," Pichai told Google staff in the memo, which was [shared with *The Verge*](). "The reality is that to create the capacity for this investment, we have to make tough choices." That same Silicon Valley-speak was used in mid-April by Alphabet chief financial officer Ruth Porat, who told employees that the finance department is undertaking a restructuring effort that will involve both layoffs and relocations. "The tech sector is in the midst of a tremendous platform shift with Al," Porat wrote in a memo, [obtained by *CNBC*](), to finance employees. "As a company, this means we have the opportunity to make more helpful products for billions of users and provide faster solutions to our customers, but it also means we collectively have to make tough decisions, including how and where we work to align with our highest priority areas." Now it seems like we know who, generally speaking, is at the brunt of those "tough" calls — and it certainly isn't anyone in the Alphabet C-suite. **More on Google:** [*Artists Sue Google Over Its AI Image Generator*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()