Overview
- Companies announced 153,074 job cuts in October, up roughly 175% from a year earlier and the highest October tally since 2003, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
- Announced cuts in the first ten months of 2025 have exceeded one million, about 65% higher than the same period last year, marking the largest total since the pandemic.
- Technology and warehousing led October reductions, with high-profile moves from Amazon, Meta, Target and Paramount Skydance highlighted in the report.
- Challenger attributes the increase to cost-cutting, the adoption of artificial intelligence, and weaker consumer and business spending, while noting tougher re-employment for laid-off workers.
- With the federal shutdown halting Labor Department releases, markets and policymakers are leaning on private indicators such as ADP and Challenger, even as Fed Chair Jerome Powell cautions they are no substitute for official data.