China’s tech giants Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent spook a generation of workers with job cuts

FOR years, a job at one of China’s technology behemoths was a golden ticket for the country’s ambitious youth. Now, a wave of downsizing is tarnishing that dream, pushing out seasoned employees and prompting a new generation to seek refuge in the state sector.

In a recent push for “cost reduction and efficiency”, China’s major Internet companies have been actively trimming their ranks, a sharp reversal from their years of rapid expansion. The workforce adjustments are shaking the foundations of a once-unassailable industry.

Financial reports from several of China’s largest tech firms reviewed by Caixin reveals significant workforce reductions over the past three years.

At e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding and search leader Baidu, employee headcounts have fallen for three consecutive years. Baidu’s workforce stood at 35,900 at the end of 2024, a 21.1 per cent drop from its 2021 peak. Alibaba’s reduction has been more pronounced, with its full-time employee count falling by more than 50 per cent, from 254,941 in March 2022 to 124,320 in March 2025.

In its latest annual report, Alibaba attributed the decline primarily to the sale and deconsolidation of its hypermarket chain, Gaoxin Retail, a move partially offset by new hires.

Tencent Holdings, while showing less overall volatility, also experienced a contraction, with its staff shrinking from 108,436 in 2022 to 105,417 in 2023, before ticking back up to 110,558 in 2024.

The industry turmoil has hit mid-career professionals, particularly those over 35, the hardest. Many have been caught in the latest layoff wave, forcing some to accept a “career downgrade” while others struggle to re-enter a tight job market.

Liu Ming, 32, was laid off from a major tech firm this year due to a departmental restructuring. During five months of unemployment, he received three verbal job offers, only to have all of them rescinded. The explanations were nearly identical: “The company has recently adjusted its hiring plan and is temporarily not onboarding new employees.”

“I understand it means the offer was pulled, but there’s no way for me to hold them accountable,” said Liu, who has come to see the job market as not just scarce but also deeply unstable.

Yang Yu, 33, lost her operations job at ByteDance three years ago when her entire project was eliminated. After more than a year of searching – sending out hundreds of applications with a response rate below 10 per cent – she landed a role at a small short-video company. But even there, she says, the pressure is on. She sees older staff being replaced by recent graduates. “My colleagues are mostly around 30,” she said, an age that is no longer considered young in the industry.

The push for a younger workforce is an open secret. In a company-wide letter last September, Alibaba CEO Wu Yongming stated, “We will resolutely implement team rejuvenation,” with a goal of having managers born after 1985 and 1990 become the management backbone within four years.

Wu Yu, who was laid off from Tencent at age 45 during a 2023 restructuring, had consistently been named an outstanding employee and was awarded stock options just six months before her dismissal. “The company started sending signals in 2022 that the team’s average age was too high and needed to be younger,” she recalled. “But I never thought it would happen to me.” Six months after she left, a colleague in his 50s was also let go.

After extensive negotiations with Tencent, Wu secured a satisfactory severance package. She has since filed information-disclosure requests with labour authorities in four cities regarding the company’s layoffs. “The state is concerned about youth employment and retirement for the elderly,” Wu said, “but who is paying attention to the survival pressures of the backbone of society?”

Fan Wei, a professor at the Labour Economics School of the Capital University of Economics and Business, said age discrimination is manifesting in various ways. “The 35-year-old threshold is often used in promotions and dismissals,” he said, with employers either blocking advancement or terminating employees above that age.

The instability is reshaping the career aspirations of China’s youth. Students who once vied for lucrative tech jobs are now flocking to the perceived safety of government posts.

Jin Ying, a master’s student at a top Shanghai university, had her internship at a well-known Internet company cut short when her entire project was axed. The experience prompted her to abandon plans for a tech career, turning her focus instead to civil service and state-owned enterprises.

Wang Yan, a junior at another Shanghai university, is already preparing for her hometown’s civil service exam. “If you get laid off from a private company around 35, you have to start over in middle age,” she said. “It’s just too insecure.”

This sentiment reflects a national trend. A 2024 report by Zhaopin, a major recruitment platform, showed that 73.1 per cent of graduates now aspire to work for government agencies or state-owned firms. The proportion of graduates hoping to work for state-owned enterprises has risen annually since 2020 to 47.7 per cent, while the appeal of private companies has plummeted, dropping from 25.1 per cent in 2020 to just 12.5 per cent this year.

For those who have already been through the crucible of a layoff, the experience has been transformative. After losing her job, Yang took on gig work, driving for a ride-hailing service and selling handmade jewellery at a market.

“If I lose my job again, it’s okay,” she said. “I have already prepared for the worst.” CAIXIN GLOBAL