A report from
employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. showed on Thursday that
the U.S. businesses announced 275,240 job cuts in March, up 60.0 per cent from
the 172,017 layoffs claimed in February. This marked the strongest rise in job cuts since May 2020 (~397,000).
The March
reading was 204.8 per cent above the figure for the corresponding month one
year prior (90,309).
According to
the report, the Government announced the largest number of job cuts in the last month
(216,215, or 78,6 per cent of all), reflecting DOGE's efforts to eliminate
positions in the federal government. It
was followed by the Technology (15,055, or 5,5
per cent of all), Retail (11,709, or 4,3
per cent of all), and Health Care and Products (6,019, or 2.2 per cent of all)
sectors.
In the first
quarter of 2025, businesses announced intentions to reduce 497,052 jobs, up 226.8%
compared to the fourth quarter of 2024 (152,116) and up 93.2 per cent compared to the same quarter of 2024
(257,254). This represented the highest quarterly total since the first quarter
of 2009 (578,510).
Commenting on
the latest report, Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray
& Christmas Inc., noted that job cut announcements were dominated last
month by Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] plans to eliminate
positions in the federal government. “It would have otherwise been a fairly
quiet month for layoffs,” he added.