Employers in the US have laid off nearly 1.2 million workers since the beginning of the year, which is the highest indicator for the January-November period since 2020, according to the American recruitment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
„In November, employers reported layoffs of 1,170,821 employees from the beginning of the year to the end of November. Since January, the number of layoffs has reached its highest level since 2020,“ the report said.
According to the company, the number of layoffs has increased by 54% compared to the same period in 2024, when approximately 761,000 people lost their jobs. In 2020, this figure exceeded 2.2 million. The researchers noted that the number of layoffs exceeded 1.1 million for only the sixth time since 1993. In addition, US employers have announced the lowest number of job vacancies in 15 years since the beginning of the year.
The technology sector has registered the most layoffs, with more than 153,500 people losing their jobs since the beginning of the year. Retail came in second, shedding nearly 92,000 employees since January.
According to the company, internal changes and branch closures were the leading causes of layoffs, leading to the loss of approximately 306,800 jobs. Artificial intelligence, which only began to be mentioned in reports as a reason for layoffs in 2023, has led to a reduction of nearly 55,000 employees since the beginning of the year.