US Layoffs & Job Cuts Report 2025/2026: 125+ Statistics on Workforce Reductions

1.2 million job cuts were announced in 2025 — up 58% from 2024. Below are 125+ statistics on layoffs, unemployment, severance, and the forces reshaping the American workforce.

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Annual Totals

The Challenger, Gray & Christmas outplacement firm tracks announced job cuts across the US economy. 2025 was one of the worst years on record.

• 1,206,374 job cuts announced in 2025, up 58% from 761,358 in 2024. (Challenger Gray)
• This was the highest annual total since 2020, and the 7th-highest since 1989. (Challenger Gray)
• Q4 2025 had the highest quarterly layoffs since 2008. (Challenger Gray)
• Planned hires dropped to 507,647 in 2025 — down 34% from 2024 and the lowest since 2010. (Challenger Gray)
• 108,435 job cuts in January 2026 alone — the highest January since 2009. (CNBC)

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By Industry

Government-driven cuts dominated 2025, but retail, warehousing, and tech all saw massive increases.

Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas

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Top Reasons for Job Cuts

The reasons behind mass layoffs shifted dramatically in 2025, with government efficiency initiatives becoming the single largest driver.

• DOGE Impact was the #1 cited reason for layoffs in 2025 — 293,753 planned layoffs attributed to government efficiency reductions. (Fortune)
• Contract loss accounted for 30,784 cuts in January 2026 alone. (Challenger Gray)
• Market/economic conditions drove 28,392 cuts in January 2026. (Challenger Gray)
• Restructuring was responsible for 20,217 cuts — the top reason in November 2025. (Challenger Gray)

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Federal Government / DOGE Layoffs

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative drove an unprecedented wave of federal workforce reductions in 2025.

• The federal workforce shrank approximately 9%, from 3.015 million to 2.744 million employees between January and November 2025. (Yahoo Finance)
• An estimated 317,000 federal employee departures were tracked during the year. (Wikipedia)
• 62,530 federal workers were dismissed in the first 2 months of 2025 — a 41,311% increase vs. the same period in 2024. (Newsweek)
• 154,000 federal employees signed the deferred resignation program. (NPR)
• March 2025 alone saw 275,240 announced cuts, with 216,670 attributed to DOGE. (Challenger Gray)

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Tech Layoffs

The tech industry continued its post-pandemic correction, with layoffs accelerating into 2026.

• 245,953 people were impacted across 783 tech layoff events in 2025. (TrueUp)
• 39,922 people impacted across 107 events so far in 2026 (as of mid-February). (TrueUp)
• In just 6 weeks of 2026, tech layoffs hit 30,700 globally — on pace to surpass 2025. (TechNode)
• Major 2025 cuts by company: Amazon (~14K), Microsoft (~15K), Verizon (13K), Salesforce (~5K), Meta (~3.6K). (TrueUp)
• 55% of hiring managers expect layoffs in 2026; 44% cite AI as the top driver. (Resume.org)

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Unemployment Data

The labor market weakened throughout 2025, with unemployment reaching multi-year highs before stabilizing in early 2026.

January 2026 Snapshot

• U-3 (official) unemployment rate: 4.3%. (BLS)
• U-6 (broader underemployment): 8.0%. (BLS)
• 7.36 million Americans unemployed. (BLS)
• November 2025 unemployment hit 4.6% — the highest since September 2021. (BLS)

By Demographic

Sources: BLS, EPI

By State

• Highest unemployment: DC (6.1%), Nevada (5.4%), California (5.4%). (BLS)
• Lowest unemployment: South Dakota (1.9%), Nebraska (1.9%), Utah (1.9%). (BLS)

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Job Openings (JOLTS Data)

The job market's supply-demand balance flipped in 2025, with more unemployed workers than available positions for the first time since the pandemic.

• Job openings fell to 6.5 million in December 2025 — the lowest (outside the pandemic) since 2017. (BLS)
• There were approximately 1 million more unemployed workers than available jobs at the end of 2025. (Indeed Hiring Lab)
• Quits held steady at 3.2 million in December 2025. (BLS)
• The hiring rate dropped to 3.3% — levels similar to the 2013 post-recession recovery. (KPMG)
• The labor market is described as a "low-hire, low-fire" environment — workers are frozen in place. (Indeed Hiring Lab)

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Severance Data

Severance packages are common but far from guaranteed, and many laid-off workers receive nothing at all.

• 90% of surveyed companies offer some form of severance. (Randstad)
• But only 25% of US firms say all employees are eligible. (Randstad)
• The standard formula is 1–2 weeks of pay per year of service. (Rippling)
• In a November 2025 survey, only 58% of companies said all laid-off workers would receive severance. (Resume.org)
• Average severance package duration: approximately 16 weeks. (CNBC)
• Only 1 in 3 laid-off respondents were offered severance at all. (ZipRecruiter)

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Global Layoff Comparison

The US accounted for nearly 70% of all global tech layoffs in 2025.

Source: RationalFX

• The UK redundancy rate reached 5.3 per 1,000 employees (August–October 2025). (ONS)

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Job Search After Layoff

Finding a new job after a layoff became significantly harder throughout 2025, with search times lengthening each quarter.

• Average job search duration: 19.9 weeks (~5 months); median: 8.7 weeks. (Boterview)
• Median time to first offer lengthened from 57 days (Q1) to 83 days (Q4) in 2025. (Huntr)
• 1 in 5 laid-off workers submitted 100+ applications before finding a job. (CNBC)
• New hires received an average of 3.5 job offers during their search. (Boterview)
• 80% of re-employed workers said they did not take a pay cut. (Boterview)

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AI & Automation Impact

Artificial intelligence is becoming a leading driver of workforce displacement, with tens of millions of jobs at risk.

• 23.2 million US jobs (15.1% of all jobs) have 50%+ of tasks already automated. (SHRM)
• 55,000 job cuts in 2025 were directly attributed to AI. (Challenger Gray)
• 80% of customer service roles are projected to be automated, potentially displacing 2.24 million jobs. (DemandSage)
• 79% of employed women work in jobs at high automation risk vs. 58% of men. (National University)

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Return-to-Office Impact

RTO mandates became a significant — and sometimes intentional — driver of workforce attrition in 2025.

• Companies with strict RTO mandates experienced 13% higher turnover. (Baylor University)
• 8 in 10 companies lost talent due to RTO mandates. (Baylor University)
• 1 in 4 executives admitted they hoped employees would quit due to RTO. (Fortune)
• 40% of managers believe their organization did layoffs because not enough employees quit from RTO. (Fortune)
• Female employees were 3x more likely to leave post-RTO than males. (Baylor University)
• RTO mandates increased job vacancy duration by 23% and reduced hire rates by 17%. (Baylor University)
• Amazon called back 350,000 employees full-time in January 2025. (NPR)
• Workers willing to quit immediately over RTO dropped 87% (from 51% to 7%) between January 2025 and January 2026. (MyPerfectResume)

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Key Takeaways

1. 2025 was a brutal year for workers: 1.2 million announced job cuts, the highest since 2020 and 7th-worst year since tracking began in 1989.
2. Government was the biggest driver: DOGE-related federal reductions accounted for nearly 300,000 cuts, shrinking the federal workforce by 9%.
3. Tech isn't slowing down: Nearly 246,000 tech workers were impacted in 2025, and 2026 is on pace to be worse with 40,000 already affected by mid-February.
4. Job searching got harder: Time to first offer nearly doubled from Q1 to Q4 2025, and 1 in 5 applicants needed 100+ applications.
5. AI is accelerating displacement: 55,000 jobs were cut specifically due to AI in 2025, with 23 million jobs having 50%+ automated tasks.
6. RTO is a stealth layoff tool: 25% of executives openly admit hoping RTO mandates would push employees to quit.

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Last updated: February 2026. All data sourced from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), TrueUp, Economic Policy Institute (EPI), and other cited sources. For corrections or data requests, contact the MakeMyPaystub research team.