Challenger reports 80,089 total announced job cut intentions in May, up 19.5 percent from 66,995 in April and up 286.7 percent from May 2022. The largest share of intentions is 22,887 in technology, or 28.6 percent of the total. This is well above the next largest sector of 9,053 in retail, or 11.3 percent of the total. Together the two account for nearly 40 percent of all planned layoffs. For 2023 to date, planned layoffs are at 417,5000 compared to 100,694 in the first five months of 2022. So far in 2023, technology layoffs outstrip all other sectors at 136,831 to date.

Among reasons cited for layoffs, the largest are closing with 19,598 announcements and market/economic conditions with 14,617. The two accounted for 42.7 percent of all layoff plans. Some of this is ongoing consolidation as businesses shutter underperforming outlets. A significant number of layoffs are taking the form of voluntary severance with 8,000 of these planned, or 10 percent of the total. The next wave of technology layoffs appears to be in part a willingness to adopt new technologies. There are 3,900 planned layoffs tied to artificial intelligence, or 4.9 percent of the total. This could well accelerate in those areas where AI can reliably be used for analysis and content development.

May sees 7,855 new hiring intentions, a dip of 66.2 percent from 23,310 in the prior month and down 93.7 percent from 126,083 a year ago. The strongest hiring intentions in May are 2,750 in energy and 2,000 in real estate. The two sectors accounted for 60.2 percent of all intentions in May. Hiring in energy may reflect ongoing solid prices for fuels and a chance to capture some of the workers laid off elsewhere in construction. Hiring in real estate suggests that businesses in that sector see some recovery in housing despite higher mortgage rates.

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.