Layoff announcements top 1.1 million this year, the most since 2020 pandemic, Challenger says
A sign from the NYS Department of Labor job fair held at the Downtown Central Library on Wednesday, August 27, 2025 in Buffalo, New York, USA.
Lauren Petracca | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Layoffs announced by U.S. employers rose above 1 million in November, as corporate restructuring, artificial intelligence and tariffs helped reduce job applications, consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported on Thursday.
The firm said November layoff plans totaled 71,321, a step down from the massive cuts announced in October, but still enough to take the 2025 total to 1.17 million. This total is 54% higher than the same 11-month period a year ago and the highest level since 2020, when the Covid pandemic shook the global economy.
Verizon’s announcement in November that it would lay off more than 13,000 people helped increase the total. Tech companies driven by innovations in artificial intelligence listed 12,377 reductions, increasing the industry’s 2025 total by 17% from the previous year. AI itself has been blamed for 54,694 layoffs this year.
Tariffs were cited as the cause of more than 2,000 outages in November and nearly 8,000 to date. The most cited reason for the month was restructuring, followed by closings and market or economic conditions.
“Layout plans fell last month, which is certainly a positive sign. However, layoffs increased in November.”
“It has only gone above 70,000 twice since 2008: in 2022 and in 2008,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Challenger also noted that companies have moved away from year-end layoff announcements since the financial crisis in 2008.
“It was a trend for most companies to announce layoff plans towards the end of the year to align with their practices.”
fiscal year end. It became unpopular, especially after the Great Recession, and best practice was to plan layoffs during times other than holidays,” Challenger said.
November brought some relief after more than 153,000 cuts were announced in October; this was the highest total in the last 22 years.
The figures come amid growing concerns about the state of the U.S. labor market.
ADP reported Wednesday that private employers cut 32,000 jobs in November; This is the biggest drop in the last 2.5 years.
According to the Challenger report, hiring prospects are weak this year as well. Employers announced 497,151 planned hires in 2024, down 35% from the same point.
Despite signs of weakness elsewhere, Labor Department data do not yet reflect an increase in layoffs.
On Thursday, the department reported that weekly unemployment claims fell unexpectedly to 191,000, the lowest level in more than three years. Official data showed that the drop of nearly 27,000 from the previous week was due to unusually large declines in California and Texas and was likely affected by the Thanksgiving holiday.
