Apple’s Employee Count Grew This Year Despite Smaller-Scale Layoffs

Apple’s employee count grew in 2024, despite reports that the company had at least four incidents of smaller-scale layoffs this year.

As of late September, Apple had approximately 164,000 full-time employees worldwide, the company disclosed in a filing last week. That’s up from the 161,000 full-time employees that Apple reported a year ago. These figures include corporate employees, such as software engineers, and retail employees at its stores.

Apple now has as many employees as it did in 2022, following a slight decrease last year.

Apple’s full-time employee counts by year, per the company’s filings:

• 2024: 164,000
• 2023: 161,000
• 2022: 164,000
• 2021: 154,000
• 2020: 147,000
• 2019: 137,000
• 2018: 132,000

Apple laid off more than 600 employees this year after canceling its long-running electric vehicle project, according to a notice the company filed in California. The company also relocated a Siri evaluation team from San Diego, California to Austin, Texas, and employees on the 120-person team who were not willing to make the long-distance move were laid off.

Apple also cut around 100 jobs across its Apple Books and Apple News teams this year, and laid off some employees after abandoning its plan to develop in-house Apple Watch displays with micro-LED technology, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman.

While some other tech companies like Google and Microsoft have laid off tens of thousands of employees over the past two years, Apple has managed to avoid larger-scale layoffs in that time. With its employee count once again at an all-time high, and its quarterly revenues in record territory again, Apple is heading into 2025 on a good note.