American companies made the most October job cuts in 20+ years
/ Our Today
administrator
Data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. shows that US companies have made the most job cuts for any October in more than two decades, as AI-driven changes continue to shake up the domestic labour market.
The data shows that companies announced 153,074 job cuts last month, almost triple the number during the same month last year and driven by the technology and warehousing sectors. This is the most for any October since 2003, when the advent of cellphones was similarly disruptive, said Andy Challenger, the company’s chief revenue officer.
Not only did individual companies announce large layoffs in October, but a higher number of companies announced job cut plans, Challenger said, tracking nearly 450 individual job cut plans in October compared to under 400 in September.
Any economic data from private sources will be on investors’ radar as official data continues to be absent, with the US government entering its longest-ever shutdown.
Tech firms led the job cuts in the private sector, followed by retailers and the services sector, the global outplacement company said. The layoffs in October surged 175 per cent from a year ago to 153,074. From the start of the year to October end, employers have announced 1,099,500 job cuts, a 65 per cent rise from 664,839 in the same time period last year.
Chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Andy Challenger reports, “Some industries are correcting after the hiring boom of the pandemic, but this comes as AI adoption, softening consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs drive belt-tightening and hiring freezes.”
Comments