https://www.cmegroup.com/content/dam/cmegroup/images/common/default/article-940x600.jpg
US: Challenger Job-Cut Report
| Actual | Previous | |
| Level | 45,489 | 97,006 |
Highlights
US employers announce 45,849 layoffs in June, down 53 percent from 97,006 in May. Not surprising as layoffs tend to fall in summer and these numbers are not seasonally adjusted.
The latest number for June 2026 is down 4 percent from the 47,999 cuts in June 2025, and the lowest monthly total since December 2025, says Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Through June, employers announce 443,604 job cuts, down 40 percent from the 744,308 cuts in the first half of 2025. It is the second-highest January-to-June total since 2020, trailing only 2025's DOGE-driven surge. This is the fourth time this year job cuts were lower than the corresponding month one year earlier.
Definition
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.
Description
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.
