# Tech Layoffs Tracker — Real-Time Tech Layoff Data (`gochujang/tech-layoffs-tracker`) Actor

Aggregates tech layoff news from major free RSS feeds (TechCrunch /tag/layoffs, The Verge, Reuters Tech, Ars Technica). Extracts company name + impacted headcount from titles when present. HR / recruiter / market sentiment signal. Telegram digests.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/gochujang/tech-layoffs-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Hojun Lee](https://apify.com/gochujang) (community)
- **Categories:** Business
- **Stats:** 5 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 layoff news trackeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Tech Layoffs News Tracker

> Aggregates tech layoff news from **TechCrunch, The Verge, Reuters Tech, Ars Technica** RSS feeds. Extracts company name + impacted headcount from titles automatically. HR / recruiter / market sentiment signal. **No API key.**

***

### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `rssFeeds` | array | `[]` | Additional RSS feeds to ingest. Use 'Name|URL' or plain URL. |
| `onlyLayoffNews` | boolean | `True` | Filter items to those matching layoff/job-cut keywords. |
| `minHeadcount` | integer | `0` | Drop items where extracted headcount < this. 0 = no filter. |
| `limit` | integer | `100` | Max items to return. |
| `alertOnNew` | boolean | `False` | Send digest of returned items to Telegram. |
| `telegramBotToken` | string | `—` | Telegram bot token. |
| `telegramChatId` | string | \`\` | Telegram chat ID to send alerts to (get it from @userinfobot |

***

### Why this exists

Tech layoff news drives real recruiting, hiring, and macroeconomic decisions. layoffs.fyi has become the de facto industry tracker — but their data is locked inside an Airtable embed.

This actor solves the same need from a different angle: it watches the public RSS feeds of the major tech publications and pulls every layoff-related article with regex-based filtering. You get more **context** (the actual article) plus the headline parsing extracts company + headcount when present.

***

### What you get per row

| Field | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `source` | `TechCrunch` | publication |
| `title` | `Meta is cutting several hundred jobs` | |
| `url` | `https://techcrunch.com/.../` | |
| `summary` | `Meta is laying off several hundred employees...` | first 500 chars |
| `published` | `Tue, 25 Mar 2026 14:30:00 +0000` | RFC 822 from RSS |
| `company` | `Meta` | extracted from title |
| `headcount_estimate` | `300` | extracted from text |
| `headcount_pct_estimate` | `5.0` | extracted "X%" if present |

***

### Use cases

1. **HR / recruiting** — Identify which companies just had layoffs (= source of available talent)
2. **Sales / BD** — Reach out before competitors (recruiting agencies, EOR platforms)
3. **Market sentiment** — Cluster of mega-cap layoffs = sector weakness signal
4. **Equity research** — Headcount cuts often precede or follow weak guidance
5. **Personal awareness** — Daily digest if your industry is contracting

***

### Quick start

#### Default — last 100 layoff-related articles

```json
{}
```

#### Only articles mentioning 1000+ headcount

```json
{
  "minHeadcount": 1000,
  "limit": 50
}
```

#### Add your own RSS feeds

```json
{
  "rssFeeds": [
    "Bloomberg Tech|https://www.bloomberg.com/feed/podcast/etf-report.xml",
    "WSJ Tech|https://feeds.a.dj.com/rss/RSSWSJD.xml"
  ]
}
```

#### Daily digest to Telegram

```json
{
  "limit": 30,
  "alertOnNew": true,
  "telegramBotToken": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN",
  "telegramChatId": "YOUR_CHAT_ID"
}
```

***

### Default RSS feeds

- **TechCrunch** /tag/layoffs/feed
- **The Verge** /rss/tech
- **Reuters Tech** /feed/best-sectors/tech-media-telecom
- **Ars Technica** /index

Add more via `rssFeeds` input.

***

### Pricing

**Pay-Per-Event**: `$0.001 per news item returned.`

| Run | Items | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Default (100 items) | 100 | $0.10 |
| Daily digest (30 items) | 30 | $0.03 |
| Big-layoff filter (1000+ HC) | 5–15 | $0.005–0.015 |

***

### Output schema notes

`headcount_estimate` and `headcount_pct_estimate` use lightweight regex parsing — they're best-effort, not 100% accurate. Always verify the source article (link in `url`) before making decisions.

The `onlyLayoffNews` filter uses a curated keyword pattern (`layoff(s)|job cuts|restructur(e|ing)|workforce reduction|let go|RIF|lay off|fired|trim staff`) to keep only relevant items.

***

### Related actors (same author)

- [Stock Earnings Calendar Tracker](https://apify.com/gochujang/stock-earnings-tracker) — Earnings often coincide with layoff announcements
- [Insider Trading Tracker](https://apify.com/gochujang/insider-trading-tracker) — CEO selling shares ahead of layoffs?
- [SEC EDGAR Filing Tracker](https://apify.com/gochujang/sec-edgar-tracker)
- [Economic Calendar Tracker](https://apify.com/gochujang/economic-calendar-tracker)

***

### Feedback

A short review helps recruiters / analysts find it: [Leave a review on Apify Store](https://apify.com/gochujang/tech-layoffs-tracker#reviews)

# Actor input Schema

## `rssFeeds` (type: `array`):

Additional RSS feeds to ingest. Use 'Name|URL' or plain URL. Empty = built-in defaults (TechCrunch, Verge, Reuters, Ars).

## `onlyLayoffNews` (type: `boolean`):

Filter items to those matching layoff/job-cut keywords.

## `minHeadcount` (type: `integer`):

Drop items where extracted headcount < this. 0 = no filter.

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Max items to return.

## `alertOnNew` (type: `boolean`):

Send digest of returned items to Telegram.

## `telegramBotToken` (type: `string`):

Telegram bot token.

## `telegramChatId` (type: `string`):

Telegram chat ID to send alerts to (get it from @userinfobot)

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "rssFeeds": [],
  "onlyLayoffNews": true,
  "minHeadcount": 0,
  "limit": 100,
  "alertOnNew": false,
  "telegramChatId": ""
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("gochujang/tech-layoffs-tracker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("gochujang/tech-layoffs-tracker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call gochujang/tech-layoffs-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,gochujang/tech-layoffs-tracker"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/XZkZckT11Unssl62z/builds/dOt0T6QZOUBdNKS5H/openapi.json