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By Hugh Cameron
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Total layoff announcements in 2025 rose to their highest level since 2020, despite some easing toward the end of year, according to the latest report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
On Thursday, the outplacement firm said U.S.-based employers announced 35,553 job cuts in December. While down 50 percent from November’s total and 8 percent from the same month a year prior, the figure brings 2025’s total to 1.2 million, up from 761,677 in 2024 and only surpassed in the last decade by the 2.3 million announcements which occurred in 2020 amid the COVID pandemic.
Why It Matters
The U.S. witnessed a significant slowdown in hiring at the tail end of 2025, with the latest figures from the Department of Labor revealing that employers added only 64,000 jobs in November, as the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.6 percent—its highest level since September 2021.
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Challenger’s finding that layoffs cooled in December was hailed as a “positive sign” for the labor market after a year of heavy cuts and notable mass layoffs by some of America’s largest employers. However, this late-year slowdown was not enough to reverse the monthslong trend, with 2025 still boasting the worst fourth quarter for planned layoffs since 2008.
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What To Know
In addition to marking a slight decrease from November and a year prior, December’s total of 35,553 planned job cuts represents the lowest monthly total since July 2024, when 25,885 were announced.
“The year closed with the fewest announced layoff plans all year,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “While December is typically slow, this coupled with higher hiring plans, is a positive sign after a year of high job cutting plans.”
But last month’s decline was not enough to offset what was a difficult quarter for employment in the U.S., with 259,948 job cut announcements in the final three months resulting in the highest fourth-quarter total since 2008. And the firm noted that 2025 now ranks as the seventh-highest year for layoffs since 1989.
- 2020 2,304,755
- 2001 1,956,876
- 2002 1,466,823
- 2009 1,288,030
- 2003 1,236,426
- 2008 1,223,993
- 2025 1,206,374
Government roles led the way in job cut announcements in 2025 at 308,167—up 703 percent year over year—primarily in the federal government and largely due to the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) early into President Donald Trump’s second term.
Technology sector layoffs rose 15 percent to 154,445 last year, while warehousing companies’ quadrupled to 95,317.
The embattled retail industry similarly struggled, with 92,989 announced cuts in 2025, more than double the amount (41,686) seen the year prior. The sector continues to deal with shifting preferences toward e-commerce among increasingly cash-strapped consumers, as well as higher prices and what the firm calls “tariff uncertainty.”
What People Are Saying
Aaron Sojourner, senior researcher at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, previously told Newsweek: “Every sector is at risk for layoffs in 2026. Unemployment is rising and job growth is slowing broadly across sectors. Wage growth has decelerated versus a year ago.”
“Employer labor demand is weakening due to a combination of policy and economic uncertainty, higher taxes on imported inputs, withdrawal of public investments in health care, in medical and scientific innovation, and in the loss of immigrant consumers,” he said, adding that artificial intelligence could also weigh on both hiring and firing in 2026.
What Happens Next
Regarding job cuts in 2026, forecasts vary significantly, with some anticipating some normalization after several volatile, post-pandemic years and the potential for elevated hires and relatively low unemployment propped up by the expanding health care sector. But others worry that economic uncertainties and the specter of artificial intelligence could disrupt hiring patterns and see layoffs stay at—or exceed—2025's elevated levels.
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