Overview
- Employers announced about 1.17 million job cuts through November 2025, the highest year-to-date total since 2020 and a five-year high, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
- November saw 71,321 announced cuts, a 24 percent increase from a year earlier and one of only two Novembers since 2008 to top 70,000.
- A Resume.org survey found roughly one in three business leaders planning holiday-season layoffs, with most expecting cuts between Thanksgiving and Christmas or in the week between Christmas and New Year.
- Surveyed employers most often cited pre–new quarter cost-cutting as the motive for timing cuts, with many also pointing to avoiding bonus and PTO payouts.
- Signals are mixed as weekly jobless claims fell to 191,000, the lowest since September 2022, while experts and surveys highlight AI, automation and post‑pandemic staffing corrections as drivers of reductions.