Economic Release
US: Challenger Job-Cut Report
Date: April 3, 2025 06:30 AM CT
| Actual | Previous | |
|---|---|---|
| Level | 275,240 | 172,017 |
Highlights
The Challenger report on layoff intentions in March sees planned job cuts up 60.0 percent to 275,240 from February and up 206.8 percent from a year ago. The jump is mostly attributable to 216,915 cuts related to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) actions. This accounts for 78.8 percent of the total. Excluding government, the total is 58,325 planned cuts. Senior Vice President Andrew Challenger said of the March report, It would have otherwise been a fairly quiet month for layoffs, were it not for the government sector.
The report noted that the March total was the third highest month after 397,016 in May 2020 and 671,129 in April 2020.
Outside of the government sector, layoff plans remain elevated for the technology sector with 15,055 announcements in March as it restructures. There are 11,709 announcements for retail where some big chains are shuttering underperforming locations or going out of business.
Among reasons cited for job cuts in March, by far the leader is 216,670 directly laid at the DOGE door with another 1,221 from downstream impacts.
Hiring plans decline 61.8 percent to 13,198 in March and are down 37.5 percent compared to a year ago. Ironically, among hiring intentions announced, the largest are 6,972 in government and 1,285 in technology in March.
The report noted that the March total was the third highest month after 397,016 in May 2020 and 671,129 in April 2020.
Outside of the government sector, layoff plans remain elevated for the technology sector with 15,055 announcements in March as it restructures. There are 11,709 announcements for retail where some big chains are shuttering underperforming locations or going out of business.
Among reasons cited for job cuts in March, by far the leader is 216,670 directly laid at the DOGE door with another 1,221 from downstream impacts.
Hiring plans decline 61.8 percent to 13,198 in March and are down 37.5 percent compared to a year ago. Ironically, among hiring intentions announced, the largest are 6,972 in government and 1,285 in technology in March.
Definition
This monthly report counts and categorizes announcements of corporate layoffs based on mass layoff data from state departments of labor. The job-cut report must be analyzed with caution. It doesn't distinguish between layoffs scheduled for the short-term or the long term, or whether job cuts are handled through attrition or actual layoffs. Also, the job-cut report does not include jobs eliminated in small batches over a longer time period. Unlike most economic data, this series is not adjusted for seasonal variation.
Description
The job-cut report is basically a rehash of the weekly jobless claims report but provides additional insight into where layoffs are occurring. There is industry and geographic (states) detail that is not available with weekly jobless claims.
