The March Challenger report on layoff intentions shows a 6.7 percent increase to 90,309 after 84,638 in February, and is little changed at up 0.7 percent compared to 89,703 a year ago. For the first three months of 2024, layoff intentions total 257,254 compared to 270,416 in the same period in 2023.

Layoff plans in March are the largest for government (36,044 or 39.9 percent of the total) and technology (14,224, or 15.8 percent) Together the three industries accounted for over half of all announced intentions. Layoff plans are predominantly due to cost-cutting (45,415, or 50.3 percent of the total).

Announced hiring intentions are up 104.5 percent to 21,102 in March after 10,317 in February and up 133.3 percent from 9,044 in March 2023. In March, hiring intentions by industry are led by energy (5,800, or 27.5 percent of the total), followed by aerospace/defense (3,158, or 15.0 percent), and technology (2,327, or 11.0 percent).

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.