Global consultant Accenture has announced job cuts in a black week for Ireland’s economy, following confirmed workforce reductions at Indeed, Amazon and Workhuman.

And the pain is set to continue, as Indeed CEO Chris Hyams warned that the tech sector could remain sluggish for months to come. The layoffs highlight how interconnected Dublin's major office occupiers are.

Accenture is to reduce its workforce by 19,000 jobs worldwide, representing around 2.5% of its total headcount but 6% of its Irish staff.

Many of Accenture’s employees act as outsourced staff for tech giants, including Meta and Microsoft, which have recently reduced their workforces as the economic downturn bites.

Accenture confirmed that there will be around 400 job losses among its 6,000 Ireland-based employees.

“After a careful review of our business operations, we can confirm that we are going into collective employee consultation for a proposed redundancy programme that is anticipated to affect approximately 400 of our people in Ireland,” Accenture said in a statement.

The company added that around half of the cuts will happen by the end of the summer after Accenture increased its workforce by almost 50% during the pandemic, with business from tech sector partners booming.

Jobs website Indeed had already confirmed that it intends to cut 15% of its global workforce, resulting in around 2,200 layoffs. Indeed has 1,400 Ireland-based employees.

Outlining the company's plans to staff, Indeed CEO Chris Hyams said that with the jobs market continuing to cool, it was becoming increasingly likely that HR tech revenue will decline in 2023 and potentially again next year.

"With future job openings at or below pre-pandemic levels, our organisation is simply too big for what lies ahead," Hyams said.

Ireland-founded tech firm Workhuman, which employs 600 people at its Dublin base, also announced a 10% cut to its global workforce.

And Amazon has announced plans to cut another 9,000 jobs from its global workforce in addition to the 18,000 layoffs announced in January, while Facebook parent Meta said it would cut an additional 10,000 jobs globally.