Layoff Announcements Reach Highest Level Since Early Pandemic, Topping 1.1 Million for the Year
U.S. layoffs hit nearly 1.2 million in 2025, the highest since the pandemic, with tech, food, and telecom industries seeing major job cuts.
A closed Walgreens store in San Francisco symbolizes rising job cuts as U.S. layoffs reach their highest level since the pandemic.
The outplacement agency Challenger, Gray, & Christmas release data indicating that termination announcements in the United States have seen their swiftest rise since 2020. Employers announced an intended cutback of close to 1,2 million jobs within a span of four months only, a number unprecedented since the aftermath of Covid-19 shutdowns finally started to kick in, greatly decimating the workforce.
It marks only the sixth time since 1993 that job-cut announcements through November have exceeded 1.1 million. The last instance was in 2020, when planned layoffs reached 2.3 million by this stage of the year.
In November alone, companies announced 71,321 job cuts. While that figure is lower than October’s total, it is higher than the number recorded in November 2024 and represents the steepest November tally since 2022. Because hiring patterns often move with the seasons, analysts typically compare monthly data year over year, rather than month to month.
“November job cut announcements have topped 70,000 only twice since 2008 — in 2022 and 2008,” said Andy Challenger, the firm’s chief revenue officer.
The industries facing the heaviest reductions last month included technology, food production, and telecommunications. Verizon, one of the nation’s largest telecom providers, announced plans to eliminate 13,000 positions.
The Challenger report typically receives modest attention from economists and investors because it tracks only publicly announced workforce reductions — many of which have not yet taken effect — and includes overseas cuts for multinational firms. But this month, it is one of the few data points available.
A government shutdown has sidelined employees across federal statistical agencies, halting the release of several key economic indicators. As a result, markets, lawmakers and the Federal Reserve are relying more heavily on private-sector data until federal operations resume. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is not expected to publish its next employment report until Dec. 16.
The Challenger findings arrived one day after ADP reported that private-sector payrolls fell by a net 32,000 jobs in November, with small businesses shedding 120,000 positions. Weekly initial jobless claims, released Thursday, came in slightly better than forecasts.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Wednesday that the ADP report’s weak numbers were due to the shutdown and recent deportations of undocumented immigrants — not the administration’s tariff policy. He predicted the labor market would “rebalance” and that job numbers would improve significantly next year.
Still, the broader economic picture is drawing attention in Washington. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has taken steps to roll back some tariffs on food imports as pressure on consumers and employers continues to intensify.
