Employers Announce 153,000 Job Cuts in October, Most for the Month Since 2003

U.S. employers announced 153,074 job cuts in October, the most for any October since 2003, according to a report released Thursday by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, as reported by CNBC. The figure was up 183 percent from September and 175 percent from October 2024, CNBC reported. NBC News and CBS News both described it as the worst October for job reductions in more than two decades.

For the year, employers have announced nearly 1.1 million cuts through October, the most for that period since 2020, the year of the pandemic shutdowns, according to CNBC, CBS News and NBC News. CNBC said the pace is up 65 percent from a year earlier and that 2025 is the worst year for announced layoffs since 2009. CNBC and NBC News both reported that October was the highest total for any fourth-quarter month since 2008.

Andy Challenger, the firm’s workplace expert and chief revenue officer, tied the surge in part to technology. “Like in 2003, a disruptive technology is changing the landscape,” he said, according to CNBC and NBC News. CNBC and CBS News both reported that the firm cited artificial intelligence adoption, softer consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs as factors driving belt-tightening and hiring freezes. NBC News quoted Challenger as saying some industries are correcting after the hiring boom of the pandemic, and CBS News reported that people laid off now are finding it harder to land new jobs quickly, which could loosen the labor market further.

The report arrives at an unusual moment. The Labor Department’s monthly employment report has been on hold since the government shutdown began Oct. 1, CBS News reported, and NBC News said the shutdown also delayed the October jobs report that would normally have come out Friday, along with other economic releases. That leaves private tallies such as Challenger’s as one of the few current readings on hiring. A separate private report, from the payroll processor ADP, showed employers added just 42,000 jobs in October, according to both CNBC and NBC News.

There are reasons for caution. Challenger counts announced cuts, and NBC News noted that employers may not carry out all of them, that some may fall on workers outside the United States, and that some reductions may come through attrition rather than layoffs. CNBC described the firm’s monthly figures as highly volatile and said the faster pace of layoffs had not yet shown up in the state-level weekly jobless claims, which continued to come in despite the shutdown.

The Federal Reserve is watching the same trend. CNBC reported that the central bank has lowered its benchmark rate twice since September and is expected to approve another quarter-point cut in December, and CBS News reported that Chair Jerome Powell cited concerns about slower hiring when he announced the September and October cuts. With official data missing, policymakers and economists are leaning more heavily on private reports like this one, while noting their limits.