Under Donald Trump, planned layoffs reached their highest January level since the Great Recession. U.S.-based employers announced 108,435 job cuts last month, according to data released Thursday by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
The January total rose 205% from December 2025, when employers announced 35,553 cuts. It was also up 118% from January 2025, when employers reported 49,795 cuts. Challenger noted that this figure represented the highest January job-cut total since 2009.
Challenger mentioned that several large announcements contributed to the month’s count, particularly in transportation and technology. Reuters reported that United Parcel Service planned to cut up to 30,000 jobs and close 24 facilities due to reduced volume related to Amazon deliveries and a shift towards higher-margin business. Additionally, Amazon planned 16,000 corporate job cuts, which added to reductions in the technology sector.
“Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in Q1, but this is a high total for January,” said Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “It means most of these plans were set at the end of 2025, indicating employers are not very optimistic about the outlook for 2026.”
Challenger’s report identified common reasons behind these announcements. These included contract losses, restructuring, department closures, and what the firm grouped as market and economic conditions. Reuters also reported notable reductions in healthcare, partly due to decreased federal reimbursements. The report attributed about 7% of the announced cuts to changes related to artificial intelligence.
Despite the increase in planned layoffs, the report did not show a comparable rise in hiring plans. Employers announced 5,306 planned hires in January, the lowest January total since the firm began tracking this metric in 2009. According to Reuters, the insurance industry drove much of the month’s hiring intentions.
Challenger’s figures reflect employers’ announced intentions and do not account for all job separations across the economy. Economists often track these announcements along with government labor-market data, such as weekly initial jobless claims and the monthly employment report. Analysts, as reported by Reuters, did not expect these announcements to lead to an immediate spike in weekly unemployment claims, which can lag behind corporate plans and represent a different aspect of the labor market.
The data came out while Trump continued to argue that the economy is doing well. The report did not give political reasons for the job-cut announcements, but it did compare the month’s totals to January 2009, during the downturn, when employers also announced large cuts.
Companies typically set staffing plans late in the previous year and implement changes early the next year, a trend that can lead to higher totals in the first quarter. Challenger noted this seasonal effect while stating that January’s count was unusually high for the start of the year.
The report’s sector breakdown showed transportation as the largest contributor in January, followed by technology, with additional cuts in healthcare, chemicals, and finance. Summaries of the data reported by major outlets highlighted that a small number of very large announcements made up a significant part of the month’s total.
Challenger will update the totals next month with February job-cut announcements, which will provide a clearer picture of whether January marked a one-time spike linked to year-end planning or the beginning of a sustained period of reductions.
