{"id":554117,"date":"2025-11-07T01:45:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T01:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/554117\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T01:45:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T01:45:30","slug":"job-cuts-in-october-hit-highest-level-for-the-month-in-22-years-challenger-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/554117\/","title":{"rendered":"Job cuts in October hit highest level for the month in 22 years, Challenger says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Job<\/p>\n

Layoff announcements soared in October as companies recalibrated staffing levels during the artificial intelligence boom, a sign of potential trouble ahead for the labor market, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.<\/p>\n

Job cuts for the month totaled 153,074, a 183% surge from September and 175% higher than the same month a year ago. It was the highest level for any October since 2003. This has been the worst year for announced layoffs since 2009.<\/p>\n

“Like in 2003, a disruptive technology is changing the landscape,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer at the firm. “At a time when job creation is at its lowest point in years, the optics of announcing layoffs in the fourth quarter are particularly unfavorable.”<\/p>\n

The report provides a glimpse into the labor market at a time when the government has suspended data gathering and releases<\/a> during the shutdown in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

To be sure, the Challenger monthly numbers can be highly volatile, and an accelerated pace of layoffs has yet to show up in state-level weekly jobless claim filings that continue to come in despite the shutdown. Payrolls processing firm ADP reported that October saw net job growth<\/a> of 42,000, reversing two consecutive months of losses in the private sector.<\/p>\n

However, the report comes at a time when Federal Reserve officials have expressed concern about a softening labor market. The central bank has lowered its benchmark interest rate twice<\/a> since September and is expected to approve another quarter percentage point reduction in December as policymakers look to get ahead of any more serious problems.<\/p>\n

Challenger reports the highest level of layoffs coming from the technology sector amid a time of restructuring due to AI integration. Companies in the sector announced 33,281 cuts, nearly six times the level in September.<\/p>\n

Consumer products also saw a sharp gain to 3,409, while nonprofits, an area hit hard by the shutdown, listed 27,651 cuts year to date, up 419% from the same point in 2024.<\/p>\n

In total, companies have announced 1.1 million cuts this year, a 65% increase from a year ago and the highest level since the Covid pandemic year of 2020. October saw the highest total for any month in the fourth quarter since 2008.<\/p>\n

“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. Those laid off now are finding it harder to quickly secure new roles, which could further loosen the labor market,” Challenger said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Layoff announcements soared in October as companies recalibrated staffing levels during the artificial intelligence boom, a sign of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[1500,5464,51,3085,1700,8579,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-554117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breaking-news-economy","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-business-news","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-personnel","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115505891433047371","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}