Dec. 4 (UPI) — Consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas said Thursday that U.S. job cuts bumped past the 1 million threshold for 2025 in November.
Chicago-headquartered Challenger indicated that corporate restructuring acts, artificial intelligence and U.S. President Donald Trump‘s tariffs have largely driven down job rolls. For November, Challenger further stated layoff plans accounted for 71,321 jobs.
It was a slight downgrade from the significant job cut in October, but still pushed the 2025 total to more than 1 million.
Challenger said its 54% spike from the same 11-month timeline in 2024, and the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“Layoff plans fell last month, certainly a positive sign. That said, job cuts in November have risen above 70,000 only twice since 2008: in 2022 and in 2008,” stated Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
In addition, Challenger noted that companies have shied away from year-end job cuts since the 2008 financial crisis.
“It was the trend to announce layoff plans toward the end of the year, to align with most companies’ fiscal year-ends. It became unpopular after the Great Recession especially, and best practice dictated layoff plans would occur at times other than the holidays,” according to Challenger.
It said November’s announcement by Verizon that it’s cutting more than 13,000 jobs contributed to the matter.
AI-driven tech companies saw more than 12,300 cuts with AI accounting for about 54,690 layoffs so far just this year. Trump’s tax-like tariffs also were cited, which so far has taken nearly 8,000 jobs year-to-date.
Restructuring, business closings and market or other economic conditions were was the most cited excuse.
On Wednesday, payroll firm ADP reported that some 32,000 were cut in October by private employers.
Challenger’s report indicated that U.S. employers intend to hire more than 497,000 new employees. But that is 35% off its 2024 point.
