While outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported yesterday that the number of layoffs in the nation skyrocketed 205% in March, Connecticut’s jobless rate rose five percentage points to 4.5% in February, according to the latest data from the Department of Labor.
The unemployment rate for Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury metro area in February stood at 4.3%, up from 3.8% in January. The number of unemployed people rose to 22,134 from 19,558 in January and the number of employed shrank to 489,429 from 497,502 in January.
In the Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury area, the city of Bridgeport led the way with an unemployment rate of 6%, up from 5.5% in January. The city was followed by Norwalk at 4.5% (up from 3.9%), Danbury at 4.4% (up from 3.8%), and Stamford at 4% (up from 3.4%).
The state figures don’t really take into account the so-called “DOGE effect,” which includes a high number of layoffs due to billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s plan to downsize the federal government.
However, the Challenger data does include those layoffs that took effect in March. According to the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S.-based employers announced 275,240 job cuts in March, a 60% increase from the 172,017 cuts announced one month prior. That is up 205% from the 90,309 cuts announced in the same month in 2024, which was the highest monthly total recorded last year.
“Job cut announcements were dominated last month by DOGE plans to eliminate positions in the federal government. It would have otherwise been a fairly quiet month for layoffs,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president and workplace expert for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Over the last two months, DOGE actions have been attributed to 280,253 layoff plans of federal workers and contractors affecting 27 agencies, according to Challenger tracking. Another 4,429 job cuts have come from the downstream effect of cutting federal aid or ending contracts, impacting mostly nonprofits and health organizations.
March’s total is the third-highest monthly total ever recorded. The highest monthly total occurred in April 2020 when 671,129 cuts were recorded, followed by May 2020 with 397,016. It is the highest total for the month of March on record, since Challenger began reporting on job cut plans in 1989.
So far this year, employers have announced 497,052, the highest year-to-date and quarterly total since the first quarter of 2009, when 578,510 job cuts were announced. It is up 93% from the 257,254 cuts announced during the same period in 2024 and an increase of 227% from the 152,116 cuts announced in the previous quarter.
Government & DOGE
The government led all sectors in job cuts in March with 216,215, all of which occurred in the federal government. So far this year, the government has cut 279,445, an increase of 672% from the 36,195 cuts announced in the first quarter of 2024.
In March 2024, the previous administration announced plans to cut 10,000 from the Veterans Affairs and 24,000 from the U.S. Army. Prior to March 2024, the highest monthly total for the sector occurred in September 2011, when Government entities cut 54,182, primarily on an announcement to cut 50,000 positions in the U.S. Army.
Where are job cuts occuring?
Challenger tracks job cuts by headquarter location unless the announcement specifies where the layoffs will occur.
So far this year, the East has experienced a steep increase in job cuts, primarily due to the cuts conducted by DOGE. The East experienced a 277% year-over-year increase from 94,406 to 355,992. The District of Columbia saw the largest increase from 34,120 in the first quarter of 2024 to 278,711 in 2025.
Companies’ hiring plans fell in March from 34,580 in February to 13,198. So far this year, companies plan to hire 53,867 workers, a 16% decrease from the 64,163 new hires announced in the first quarter of 2024. It is the lowest Q1 hiring total since 2012 when 52,540 new hiring plans were announced.
