Challenger Job Cuts (YoY)

The Challenger Job-Cut Report is a monthly census-style count of announced layoffs by US-based employers, meaning it sums announcements rather than surveying a sample. It has run since January 1993 and is published by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a private global outplacement and executive-coaching firm headquartered in Chicago. Year on year (YoY) means the % change versus the same month 1 year earlier. It does not measure actual layoffs, unemployment, or net job change, and it is separate from Bureau of Labor Statistics data on realized outcomes.

Each release covers announcements issued during 1 full calendar reference month. It usually appears on the first Thursday after the month ends at 7:30 AM Eastern Time, but dates and times can change. Each release shows month on month change, meaning change versus the prior month, and year on year change, plus industry, reason, region, and hiring-plan tables. Past totals stay fixed as announced, with no stated revision policy for correcting old figures.

The total reflects many sectors, reasons, and regions, and the breakdowns show where each wave comes from.

• Headline total: the sum of all announced cuts in the month, reported as a raw count with no seasonal adjustment.
• Industry breakdown: shows which of about 30 tracked sectors drive the total, such as Technology, Financial, Retail, and Food production.
• Reason breakdown: records the employer-stated cause, such as restructuring, closing, or cost cutting.
• Region and state breakdown: assigns each cut by layoff location or headquarters as stated in the announcement.
• Hiring plans: reports announced hiring intent as a counterpart to announced cuts.

In April 2020, US employers announced 671,129 cuts, the highest monthly total on record since January 1993. COVID-19 accounted for 633,082 cuts, about 94% of the month, across nearly 2,600 events versus a normal average of 252. The total was up 202% from March 2020 and up 1,577% from April 2019. Senior Vice President Andrew Challenger said employers intended to bring workers back, so the spike overstated permanent job loss and shows announcements differ from reality.

1. Monthly count: Add up all job cuts announced by US-based employers during the calendar month. Use raw totals with no weights and no seasonal adjustment, meaning no smoothing for calendar seasons.
2. Month on month change: Subtract the prior month total from the current total, divide by the prior month total, and multiply by 100.
3. Year on year change: Subtract the same-month 1-year-earlier total from the current total, divide by the same-month 1-year-earlier total, and multiply by 100. For example, 82,307 in January 2024 versus 34,817 in December 2023 is up 136%, while 82,307 versus 102,943 in January 2023 is down 20%.