Challenger reports 89,703 layoff announcements in March, up 15.3 percent from 77,770 in the prior month and 319.4 percent from 21,387 in March 2022. The report noted that the total 270,416 for the first quarter 2023 is the highest since 346,683 in the first quarter 2020 at the start of the pandemic, and is the highest quarterly total since 497,215 in the third quarter 2020.

The largest number of layoff announcements is 39,175 in technology, or 43.7 percent of the total. The next largest is in financial at 13,400 announcements, or 14.9 percent of the total. The retrenchment in the tech sector is ongoing while financial reflects more recent developments with problems in the banking sector.

However, over half of the reasons cited for announced layoffs are attributed to market/economic conditions. The 49,118 is 54.8 percent of the total and reflects concerns about a downturn in activity.

Announced hiring intentions are down 68.6 percent to 9,044 in March from February, and off 91.4 percent compared to 105,224 in March. Two categories accounted for over half of all hiring plans. Automotive is 2,575 or 28.5 percent of the total. Pharmaceuticals are 2,500, or 27.6 percent of the total.

This monthly report counts and categorizes announcements of corporate layoffs based on mass layoff data from state departments of labor. The job-cut report must be analyzed with caution. It doesn't distinguish between layoffs scheduled for the short-term or the long term, or whether job cuts are handled through attrition or actual layoffs. Also, the job-cut report does not include jobs eliminated in small batches over a longer time period. Unlike most economic data, this series is not adjusted for seasonal variation.

The job-cut report is basically a rehash of the weekly jobless claims report but provides additional insight into where layoffs are occurring. There is industry and geographic (states) detail that is not available with weekly jobless claims.