The Challenger report for September puts layoff intentions at 47,457, down 36.9 percent from 75,151 in August and up 58.2 percent from September 2022. The September total is in large part due to 14,958 announced layoff intentions in retail, or 31.5 percent of the total. Layoffs in services were the second largest share of announcements at 6,288 in September, followed by 4,769 in automotive. Some of the layoff plans for services may have been in anticipation of another federal government shutdown which seemed probable until the last minute agreement. Layoffs in automotive could be related to the UAW strike which would affect related businesses.

However, it is the technology sector that continues to lead layoff activity in 2023. For the January-September 2023 period, technology layoff intentions total 151,989 compared to 18,620 in the same period last year. Retail shows the second most numerous layoff intentions for the first 9 months of 2023 at 70,713 compared to 18,213 in the same period in 2022.

Among reasons cited for layoff intentions in September, the largest number are 19,462 in closing, or 41.0 percent of the total. The retail sector has seen a number of store closings as major retailers close less profitable locations.

Hiring plans in September total 590,353 and reflects the annual plans to add seasonal workers for the winter shopping period. In September, retailers announced intentions to hire 438,420 workers, or 74.3 percent of the total. Also related to the winter shopping season are plans to add 100,200 workers in transportation, or 17.0 percent of the total. Together, these account for 91.2 percent of all hiring intentions in September. The plans to add retail workers suggests that those businesses anticipate a good holiday season. In September 2022, the plans were lower at 253,150 workers. Plans to hire transportation workers are quite similar compared to the 100,210 in September 2022, and indicates that shipping services are preparing for another year of robust online shopping.

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.