Google lays off 200 'core' team workers in latest white-collar jobs cull as it moves positions to India and Mexico in search of cheaper labor

Google has laid off around 200 of its core team in California and will fill some of the positions in India and Mexico as tech companies in Silicon Valley continue to shed employees en masse. 

Core teams at Google work on the technical side of the company's flagship products as well as deal with users' online safety. 

In a message see by CNBC, vice president of Google Developer Ecosystem Asim Husian, told staff that the relocating of positions relates to bringing the tech giant 'closer to our partners and developer communities.' 

The message highlighted emerging markets in India and Brazil.  

'Announcements of this sort may leave many of you feeling uncertain or frustrated [but] are in service of [Google’s] broader goals,' Husain added. 

According to Google's internal blog section, the Core Systems & Experience division is 'responsible for building the technical foundation behind Google’s flagship products, protecting our users’ online safety, and maintaining [its] global IT infrastructure.'

Company CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly told employees at the start of the year to expect more job cuts

Google is laying off around 200 members of its core team as part of 'large scale' restructuring at the technology giant

Major tech companies continue to lay off employees amid advancements in AI and despite increasing revenue 

Although the number of layoffs peaked in 2023, it is continuing into 2024 as Google embarks on 'large scale' restructuring

In January, Google laid off staff in the digital assistant and hardware departments. At the time, CEO Sundar Pichai said more cuts could be forthcoming. 

Google''s parent Alphabet's profits were up 60 percent in the first quarter of 2024 compared against the same time last year.   

Until April, Apple had been a notable exception as other tech companies slashed their workforces over the past two years. 

There was a massive surge in hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people spent more time and money online, and big tech companies are still larger than they were before the pandemic. 

Still, as growth slows, companies are focusing on cutting costs.

In a recent regulatory filing, Apple said it had about 161,000 full-time equivalent employees. 

Amazon announced earlier this week a fresh round of layoffs, this time at its cloud computing business AWS. 

In recent months, video game maker Electronic Arts said it’s cutting about 5% of its workforce, Sony said its axing about 900 jobs in its PlayStation division, Cisco Systems revealed plans to lay off more than 4,000 workers and social media company Snap, owner of Snapchat, announced its slashing 10 percent of its global workforce.