Microsoft plans to cut thousands of jobs with some roles expected to be eliminated in human resources and engineering divisions, according to media reports on Tuesday.

The expected layoffs would be the latest in the U.S. technology sector, where companies including Amazon.com and Meta Platforms have announced retrenchment exercises in response to slowing demand and a worsening global economic outlook.

Microsoft's move could indicate that the tech sector may continue to shed jobs.

"From a big picture perspective, another pending round of layoffs at Microsoft suggests the environment is not improving, and likely continues to worsen," Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff said.

"Over the last few weeks we have seen significant headcount cut reduction from stalwarts Salesforce and Amazon," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors.

Wedbush is expecting staff cuts of another 5 to 10% across the tech sector, Ives told investors.

"Many of these companies were spending money like 1980's Rock Stars and now need to reign in the expense controls ahead of a softer (macro-economic conditions)," Ives wrote.

Amazon announced in early January that it plans to cut more than 18,000 jobs from its workforce, citing "the uncertain economy" and the fact the online retail behemoth had "hired rapidly" during the pandemic.

U.K broadcaster Sky News reported, citing sources, that Microsoft plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, or about 11,000 roles.

The company plans to cut jobs in a number of engineering divisions on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported, according to a person familiar with the matter, while Insider reported that Microsoft could cut recruiting staff by as much as one-third.

The cuts will be significantly larger than other rounds in the past year, the Bloomberg report said.

Microsoft declined to comment on the reports.

The company had 221,000 full-time employees, including 122,000 in the United States and 99,000 internationally, as of June 30, according to filings.

Microsoft is under pressure to maintain growth rates at its cloud unit Azure, after several quarters of downturn in the personal computer market hurt Windows and devices sales.

It had said in July last year that a small number of roles had been eliminated. In October, news site Axios reported that Microsoft had laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions.

Shares of Microsoft, which is set to report quarterly results on Jan. 24, were marginally higher in late afternoon trading.

Meta announced in November the loss of 11,000 jobs, or about 13% of its workforce. At the end of August, Snapchat let go about 20% of its employees, around 1,200 people.

And in early January, IT group Salesforce announced it was laying off around 10% of its employees, or just under 8,000 people.

Twitter was bought in October by billionaire Elon Musk, who promptly fired about half of the social media platform's 7,500 employees.

An unknown number more resigned in protest of his policy changes.