U.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. That is up 205% from the 35,553 job cuts announced in December, according to a report released last week from global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
January’s total is the highest for the month since the Great Recession of 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,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
By industry
Transportation announced the highest number of job cuts in January with 31,243, primarily due to an announcement from UPS. The company announced it would cut 30,000 jobs after severing ties with Amazon.
Technology announced 22,291 job cuts in January. The bulk of these came from Amazon, which announced 16,000 job cuts as it restructures its layers of management.
“CEO Andy Jassy, like many CEOs recently, has said AI will cost jobs in the coming years, but this cut appears to be due more to over hiring and reducing layers than to the new technology,” according to the Challenger report.
Health care companies and health products manufacturers, including hospitals, announced 17,107 job cuts in January, the most for the industry since April 2020, when 19,453 job cuts were recorded.
“Health care providers and hospital systems are grappling with inflation and high labor costs,” the report stated. “Lower reimbursements from Medicaid and Medicare are also hitting hospital systems. These pressures are leading to job cuts, as well as other cutting measures, such as some pay and benefits.”
Chemical manufacturers announced 4,701 job cuts in January, primarily from one announcement by Dow Inc., which cited a shift to implementing artificial intelligence and automation.
This is the highest monthly total for this sector since February 2016, when 6,640 job cuts were recorded. That month, the cuts were primarily due to a merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont.
The Media industry has announced 510 cuts in January, down 18% from the 624 cuts announced in January 2024.
News, which Challenger tracks as a subset of media and includes broadcast, digital, and print, has announced 65 job cuts in January, a 66% decrease from the 192 news cuts announced in the same month in 2025. It is the lowest January total since 2022, when no news cuts were recorded. That doesn’t take into account the recent cuts at Amazon-owned Washington Post, which just laid off 300 workers.
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 closings 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.
“It’s difficult to say how big an impact AI is having on layoffs specifically,” according to Challenger. “We know leaders are talking about AI, many companies want to implement it in operations, and the market appears to be rewarding companies that mention it.”
Tariffs were cited for 294 job cuts in January, after causing 7,908 cuts in 2025.
