SEATTLE — Facebook parent company Meta is laying off 101 employees from its Puget Sound offices, according to the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD).

The layoffs are expected to take effect Dec. 22.

Meta will lay off 23 people from the Seattle office, 48 people from the Bellevue site and four employees from the Redmond location. Another 23 employees who work remotely are also being laid off, according to an Oct. 22 employee separations email from Meta.

The list of impacted people includes two dozen employees working for Meta’s AI initiatives as software engineers, researchers and product managers.

Meta operates social media platforms Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads.

Earlier on Monday, Reuters reported Seattle-based tech giant Amazon is set to eliminate 30,000 corporate jobs. It’s unclear at this time how many employees in the Seattle area will be impacted.

KING 5 has reached out to Amazon for further information about the expected layoffs.

More Washington residents are filing for unemployment compared to this time last year.

Due to the increased demand, the state’s ESD is changing its operations to keep up with the needs.

“We’re seeing higher claims overall this year,” said JR Richards, the department’s director of Insurance Services. She said there is about an 8% increase in new claims heading into the department’s peak claim season.

Richards said it is taking people a longer time to find a new job and return to work, leading to the upped total of claims so far. Since Oct. 1, Richards said 1,937 federal employees register for unemployment as the government shutdown continues.