U.S.-based employers cut thousands of jobs during the month of November. In fact, the reduction-in-force initiatives resulted in a 24% rise in job cuts on a year-over-year basis.
Here’s the silver lining: the November 2025 job cuts are down 53% from those announced in October.
The 71,321 job cuts in November compare to some 153,074 cuts announced one month prior, according to a report released Thursday from global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
That said, the November results point to a 24% jump from the 57,727 job cuts announced in November 2024. That makes November’s total the highest for the month since 2022 when 76,835 job cuts were announced. It is the eighth time this year job cuts were higher than the corresponding month one year earlier.
“Layoff plans fell last month … certainly a positive sign,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “That said, job cuts in November have risen above 70,000 only twice since 2008: in 2022 and in 2008.”
November job cuts stayed below 70,000 from 1993 until 2000, according to Challenger tracking. During the recession year of 2001, job cuts in November skyrocketed to over 181,000. Layoff plans in November remained elevated until 2009, and stayed below 70,000 until the pandemic.
“It was the trend to announce layoff plans toward the end of the year, to align with most companies’ fiscal year-ends,” said Mr. Challenger. “It became unpopular after the Great Recession especially, and best practice dictated layoff plans would occur at times other than the holidays.”
Through November, employers have announced 1,170,821 job cuts, an increase of 54% from the 761,358 announced in the first eleven months of last year. Year-to-date job cuts are at the highest level since 2020 when 2,227,725 cuts were announced through November.
It is the sixth time since 1993 that job cuts through November have surpassed 1.1 million.
The media industry has announced 17,163 cuts so far in 2025, up 18% from the 14,549 cuts announced in the first eleven months of last year.
News, which Challenger tracks as a subset of Media and includes broadcast, digital, and print, has announced 2,254 job cuts so far this year, 179 of which occurred in November.
For the year, News cuts are down 50% from the 4,537 cuts announced during the same period last year.
