By Google laid off 12,000 employees in January 2023 to cut costs. Now, according to CNBC, the company is rehiring them—and paying more to do it. Twenty percent of Google’s 2025 AI engineer hires are former employees who were fired less than two years ago. The irony is stark: companies cut talent to save money, only to compete for the same people at premium salaries.
This isn’t just Google. Boomerang employees now make up 35% of all new hires across the industry as of March 2025, up from 31% a year earlier and the highest rate since tracking began in 2018. In tech specifically, the numbers are even more dramatic: 68% of new hires in the information sector are people returning to former employers, nearly double from the previous year.
Why Boomerang Hiring Exploded in 2025
Google’s 20% figure isn’t an outlier—it’s part of a broader pattern. According to ADP Research, boomerang hiring has accelerated sharply in 2025, particularly in sectors requiring highly skilled workers. The information sector, which includes software companies, now sees nearly two-thirds of new hires coming from its own alumni pool.
The timeline is telling. Google’s January 2023 layoffs cut 6% of its workforce, the largest reduction in the company’s history. CEO Sundar Pichai justified the cuts by saying Google had “hired for a different economic reality.” Two years later, that same company is scrambling to rehire the engineers it dismissed.
This pattern repeats across the industry. In 2023, tech companies laid off 262,735 workers—59% more than in 2022. Now, as companies rush to staff AI initiatives, they’re discovering they can’t find qualified candidates externally. The result: they’re opening their contact books and calling former employees.
The AI Talent Shortage Driving Rehiring
The rehiring surge reveals a critical shortage. AI talent demand exceeds supply by 3.2:1 globally—1.6 million open positions versus only 518,000 qualified candidates. This ratio is more severe than the cloud computing shift of 2010-2020, which peaked at 2.5:1.
The Pragmatic Engineer newsletter describes the problem bluntly: “Hiring managers can’t seem to get good inbound applications from experienced engineers without opening their proverbial contact books.” Application volume is high, but quality is low. Companies turned to boomerang hiring not as a strategy but as a necessity.
The desperation shows in unusual ways. Google co-founder Sergey Brin returned to an active role in 2023 and has personally contacted potential AI hires. When founders start cold-calling candidates, the talent shortage is real. AI roles now command 67% higher salaries than traditional software positions, and even at those rates, companies struggle to fill positions.
The Boomerang Premium: What Rehiring Actually Costs
Here’s where the math breaks down. Boomerang employees earn an average of 25% more than they did before leaving, and 40% of rehired managers were individual contributors when they resigned. Companies save money on recruiting—typically 33-66% less than hiring externally—but they pay significantly more in ongoing salary costs.
Consider the full cycle. In 2023, Google paid severance packages starting at 16 weeks plus two weeks for every year of tenure. Then came a two-year productivity gap while that talent worked elsewhere or searched for positions. Now in 2025, Google pays a 25% salary premium to bring them back, often with title bumps and promotions.
This “boomerang premium” exposes a hard truth: the 2023 layoffs weren’t cost savings if you’re rehiring the same people at higher salaries two years later. It suggests those cuts were driven more by stock price manipulation—layoffs provide short-term stock boosts—than by sound workforce planning.
What Engineers Should Know About Boomerang Offers
For engineers laid off in 2023, the boomerang trend offers validation: those cuts weren’t about your performance. Companies cut too deep, and 55% of employers who now regret their 2025 cuts prove it. The firings reflected poor organizational planning, not individual inadequacy.
For those approached to return, you have leverage. The 25% average salary increase and 40% promotion rate aren’t just statistics—they’re your bargaining position. Boomerangs also show 44% higher retention over three years compared to external hires, making you a lower-risk investment from the company’s perspective.
But the decision isn’t purely financial. The choice depends on whether the company has genuinely changed, whether you have better options elsewhere, and whether you can reset your expectations.
Tech Layoffs as Strategic Mistakes
The boomerang surge suggests 2023 tech layoffs were strategic errors, not careful right-sizing. Companies copied each other in a wave of cuts—Amazon shed 16,000 workers, Google 12,000, Microsoft and Meta 10,000 each. The dominant narrative claimed companies had over-hired during the pandemic and AI would create efficiency with fewer people.
The 2025 reality contradicts both claims. If companies over-hired, why are they rehiring the same people? If AI reduces the need for engineers, why is there a 3.2:1 talent shortage? The evidence points to panic-driven decisions: copycat behavior to boost stock prices short-term while sacrificing institutional knowledge long-term.
Key Takeaways
- Boomerang hiring reveals the true cost of 2023 tech layoffs: severance + gap + 25% salary premium
- For engineers laid off in 2023: the cuts weren’t about your performance, companies cut too deep
- AI/ML specialists have negotiating power in a market with 3.2:1 demand-to-supply ratio
- Companies now pay more to rehire talent than they saved by firing them in 2023
- The lesson: institutional knowledge and proven talent are more valuable than quarterly earnings suggested
