U.S. employers' announced job cuts surged in the month of January and hit the highest level since 2009, a new report shows.
Global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January – an increase from the 49,795 cuts announced in the same month last year. Job cuts increased 205% from December, when there were 35,553 layoffs announced.
This January saw the most layoffs for the month since 2009, when 241,749 cuts were announced. It was also the highest monthly total since October 2025, when there were 153,074 layoffs.
"Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in the first quarter, but this is a high total for January. It means most of these plans were set at the end of 2025, signaling employers are less-than-optimistic about the outlook for 2026," said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.