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US: Challenger Job-Cut Report
| Actual | Previous | |
| Level | 43,281 | 52,881 |
Highlights
US employers announce 43,281 job cuts in September, down 18 percent from 52,881 in August and down 20 percent from 54,064 in September last year. It is the lowest total for a September since 2022 when there were 29,989 job cuts.
Through September, employers have announced 573,195 job cuts, down 39 percent from 946,426 cuts announced in the first nine months of 2025. Excluding the government sector, job cut announcements are down 15 percent (550,185 versus 646,671 through September 2025). This is the lowest January-to-September total since 2022, when 209,495 layoff plans were announced.
Employers announce plans to hire 90,787 workers in September, up from the 12,325 plans announced in August, as seasonal hiring announcements have begun. However, it is down 23 percent from the 117,313 announced in September 2025, and the lowest September total since 2011, when 76,551 hiring plans were recorded.
So far this year, companies have announced plans to hire 210,612 workers, up 3 percent from the 204,939 announced through September 2025. Hiring had been running well ahead of last year's pace through August, but the gap narrows with a lighter seasonal hiring season this year.
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.
