Microsoft plans to cut nearly 5% of its workforce this week, a large portion of its nearly 220,000 workers across the globe, according to a report from Sky News.

The expected layoffs would be the latest in the tech sector, where companies including Amazon and Meta have also announced culls in their workforces, responding to slowing demand and a worsening global economic outlook.

Reports from the Verge and Bloomberg indicate the company will likely announce the layoffs beginning Wednesday, shortly before its quarterly earnings release next week.

Several layoffs will be announced in Microsoft's engineering and human resources divisions, and are expected to be "significantly larger" than the 1% cut to Microsoft's workforce in 2022. The previous job cuts affected positions in consulting and customer and partner solutions.

Big technology companies have recently been forced to reckon with decisions they made during the onset of the pandemic, which saw thousands of new employees brought on. As the global economy has slowed, so has the need for surplus labor.

Microsoft warned in October of a slowdown in its cloud computing business, an acknowledgment that major corporate customers were re-evaluating spending in response to economic challenges.

"In a world facing increasing headwinds, digital technology is the ultimate tailwind," Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chairman and chief executive, said in October.

"In this environment, we're focused on helping our customers do more with less while investing in secular growth areas and managing our cost structure in a disciplined way."

The announcement to begin layoffs comes nearly two weeks after workers in Microsoft's video game division formed the company's first union, accomplishing the feat with the support of the tech giant.

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