Staff Reductions Announced
Recent data from Challenger, Gray and Christmas indicates a decline in employer payrolls for November. Despite this, the total number of layoffs announced in 2025 has reached its highest point since the wave of pandemic layoffs in 2020.
In November, U.S. employers reported 71,321 layoffs, representing a substantial decrease of 53% compared to the 153,074 layoffs in October. However, this figure marks a 24% increase from the 57,727 job cuts in November of last year, showing a trend that is quite alarming.
Interestingly, this marks the eighth occasion in 2025 that monthly layoffs have surpassed the corresponding month from the previous year. According to Andy Challenger, a workplace expert at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, “Layoff plans dropped last month, which is certainly a good sign. But it’s noteworthy that November layoffs have only exceeded 70,000 twice since 2008—once in 2022 and once in 2008.”
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From 1993 to 2000, layoffs in November typically remained below 70,000. However, the recession in 2001 saw this number soar to over 181,000. The trend of increasing layoffs persisted until 2009, keeping the figures below 200,000 until the onset of the pandemic.
Challenger noted that the common practice of announcing layoffs towards the end of the fiscal year has changed, especially following the Great Recession, where it became less favored during the holiday season.
This year, employers have announced a total of 1,170,821 job cuts through November, reflecting a 54% increase from the 761,358 layoffs in the same period last year. Current layoffs are on track to be the highest since 2020, when over 2.2 million layoffs were recorded amid the economic downturn during COVID-19.
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Challenger’s research reveals that it is now the sixth time since 1993 that total layoffs through November have exceeded 1.1 million. The cumulative number now stands as the fifth highest since 1993.
Excluding 2020, the peak was 1,956,876 layoffs in 2001, another recession year, followed by 1,373,906 in 2002, and 1,242,936 in 2009, according to their tracking.
The telecommunications sector reported the highest job cuts in November, totaling 15,139, largely driven by layoffs announced by Verizon. This amount marks the sector’s highest monthly total since April 2020.
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In the technology sector, there were 12,377 layoffs last month, pushing the annual total to 153,536, which is an increase of 17% from the previous year. The beef industry, meanwhile, saw 6,708 job cuts, bringing its total to 34,165 for 2025, reflecting a 26% increase from last year.
Furthermore, the services sector announced 5,509 job cuts in November, resulting in a total of 69,089 for the year, which is a striking 64% rise compared to a year ago. Retailers announced 3,290 layoffs, with total job cuts reaching 91,954 this year—a 139% increase from the previous year.
