.S.-based employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January, an increase of 118% from the 49,795 cuts announced in the same month last year, and up 205% from the 35,553 job cuts announced in December, according to a report released by Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
January’s total is the highest for the month since 2009, when 241,749 job cuts were announced. It is the highest monthly total since October 2025, when 153,074 cuts were recorded.
“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,” says Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Key takeaways:
· Transportation announced the highest number of job cuts in January with 31,243.
· Technology announced 22,291 job cuts in January.
· In January, contract loss led all reasons for job cuts, with 30,784 announced during the month. Market and economic conditions followed with 28,392 cuts. Restructuring was cited for 20,044 job cuts, while store, unit, or department cosings accounted for 12,738 planned layoffs.
· Artificial intelligence (AI) was cited for 7,624 job cuts in January, 7% of total cuts for the month. Companies referenced AI for 54,836 announced layoff plans in 2025. Since 2023, when this reason was first tracked, AI has been cited in 79,449 job cut announcements, 3% of all layoff plans announced in that period.
· Tariffs were cited for 294 job cuts in January, after causing 7,908 cuts in 2025.
· In January, employers announced 5,306 hiring plans, the lowest total for the month since Challenger began tracking hiring plans in 2009. Prior to last month’s total, 2023 saw the lowest January total for hiring with 5,376, down 13% from the 6,089 hiring plans announced in the same month last year and down 49% from the 10,496 hiring plans announced in December 2025.
