Reduction-in-force initiatives surged during the first month of the fourth quarter of 2025, surging by 175% from October 2024, newly released data from global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas show.
With furloughed government workers entering their second month without pay, all U.S.-based employers announced 153,074 job cuts in October, up from the 55,597 cuts announced a year earlier. It is up 183% from the 54,064 job cuts announced in September 2025, Challenger, Gray & Christmas adds.
“October’s pace of job cutting was much higher than average for the month,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “Some industries are correcting after the hiring boom of the pandemic, but this comes as AI adoption, softening consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs drive belt-tightening and hiring freezes. Those laid off now are finding it harder to quickly secure new roles, which could further loosen the labor market.”
Through October, employers have announced 1,099,500 job cuts, an increase of 65% from the 664,839 announced in the first ten months of last year. It is up 44% from the 761,358 cuts announced in all of 2024.
Year-to-date job cuts are at the highest level since 2020 when 2,304,755 cuts were announced through October.
Not only did individual companies announce large layoff totals in October, but a higher number of companies announced job cut plans. Challenger tracked nearly 450 individual job cut plans in October, compared to just under 400 in September. March, which had the largest number of job cuts this year primarily due to cuts at the Federal level, saw roughly 350 individual announcements.
October’s total is the highest for the month since October 2003, when 171,874 cuts were recorded. That month, large announcements occurred in Retail due to acquisitions and in Telecommunication as cell phones gained wide adoption. “This is the highest total for October in over 20 years, and the highest total for a single month in the fourth quarter since 2008. Like in 2003, a disruptive technology is changing the landscape,” said Challenger.
He added that over the last 10 years, companies have shied away from announcing layoffs in the fourth quarter. Thus, it’s surprising to see so many in October. “With the onset of social media, and the ability for workers to share their negative experiences with their employers, the trend of announcing layoffs before the holidays fell away, a practice that seemed particularly cruel,” said Challenger.
In fact, between 2003 and 2013, the fourth quarter averaged 74,733 job cuts a month. In the following decade, the monthly average in the fourth quarter fell to 42,927. For October, the average job cut total from 2014 to 2024 was 47,086. “At a time when job creation is at its lowest point in years, the optics of announcing layoffs in the fourth quarter are particularly unfavorable,” he added.
Looking specifically at the media industry, there have been 16,680 cuts so far in 2025. This is up by 26% from the 13,279 cuts announced in the first ten months of last year.
News, which Challenger tracks as a subset of Media and includes broadcast, digital, and print, has announced 2,075 job cuts so far this year, 337 of which occurred in October. That is the highest monthly total since 462 in May.
For the year, News cuts are down 41% from the 3,520 cuts announced during the same period last year.
