US telco jobs are disappearing

The US telecom industry talks big but keeps getting smaller. The top US telcos – AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile – keep costs down and profit margins high by shedding tens of thousands of jobs each year.

Phil Harvey, Iain Morris

February 7, 2024

1 Min Read
Three old payphones in New Hampshire
(Source: Miro Vrlik Photography/Alamy Stock Photo)

The top three telcos in the US are shrinking fast.

Across the industry, telcos are shedding employees as quickly as they can as they automate their networks, outsource tasks to other companies and do less when it comes to customer service.

To follow up on Iain's story about US telecom layoffs, here's the chart he used in his reporting, which compiled figures from each telco's public statements and regulatory filings. It details the major US and European operators and how their employee numbers have fallen since 2018.

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

AT&T

268,220

247,800

230,760

202,600

162,900

150,500

T-Mobile US (including Sprint)

80,500

80,000

75,000

75,000

71,000

67,000

Verizon

144,500

135,000

132,200

118,400

117,100

105,400

BT

106,742

105,344

99,546

98,175

97,148

n/a

Deutsche Telekom

215,675

210,533

226,291

216,528

206,759

n/a

Orange

150,711

146,768

142,150

139,698

136,430

n/a

Telecom Italia

57,901

55,198

52,347

51,929

50,392

n/a

Telefónica

120,138

113,819

112,797

104,150

103,651

n/a

Vodafone

98,996

95,219

96,506

96,941

98,103

n/a

This month, several European operators will share their quarterly results, and we'll update this chart in the coming weeks.

To keep an eye on Light Reading stories that detail layoffs and other jobs-related industry news, bookmark our Headcount section and check it often. If you have a news tip about layoffs at your company, please do let us know by emailing [email protected].

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About the Authors

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

Iain Morris

International Editor, Light Reading

Iain Morris joined Light Reading as News Editor at the start of 2015 -- and we mean, right at the start. His friends and family were still singing Auld Lang Syne as Iain started sourcing New Year's Eve UK mobile network congestion statistics. Prior to boosting Light Reading's UK-based editorial team numbers (he is based in London, south of the river), Iain was a successful freelance writer and editor who had been covering the telecoms sector for the past 15 years. His work has appeared in publications including The Economist (classy!) and The Observer, besides a variety of trade and business journals. He was previously the lead telecoms analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit, and before that worked as a features editor at Telecommunications magazine. Iain started out in telecoms as an editor at consulting and market-research company Analysys (now Analysys Mason).

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