According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, layoffs at U.S. companies soared 217% in August to 75,151, compared to July. The increase was 267% from August of 2022. Year to date, the increase is 210% to 557,057. (These industries are laying off the most workers.)
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“Job openings are falling, and American workers are more reluctant to leave their positions right now. The job market is resetting after the pandemic and post-pandemic hiring frenzy,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Government jobs data support this point of view.

While the firm’s numbers are not as widely accepted as Bureau of Labor Statistics data and numbers from ADP, they are directionally useful and signal changes in employment at large companies.

The industry that has absorbed the most damage is tech. Job cuts in this arena came in at 149,452 out of the 557,057 total. Most of these happened earlier this year as companies, including Meta and Amazon, cut tens of thousands of workers. They added many of these jobs in the two prior years. However, their revenue growth has slowed compared to that period.

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Among other large cuts, the media industry was near the top. Job cuts there totaled 19,117. However, overall it is a much smaller industry when taking employment into account.

Retail also suffered with job cuts of 55,755. While several companies, including Walmart, have had good years, others, such as Target, have done poorly.

There may be no recession on the horizon, but an economic slowdown means these numbers could get worse.

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