Economy: Challenger Job Cuts Report for MAY 2025

Thursday, June 05, 2025

Challenger Job Cuts Report for MAY 2025

The global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc. released its job cuts report, for May 2025:

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Job Cuts Announced During May 2025: 93,816

Previous Month: 105,441

> Change from previous month: -11.03% (-11,625 cuts)

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One-Year Previous: 63,816

> Change from one-year previous: +47.01% (+30,000 cuts)

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From Today's Report:

"...'Tariffs, funding cuts, consumer spending, and overall economic pessimism are putting intense pressure on companies’ workforces. Companies are spending less, slowing hiring, and sending layoff notices,' said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Why are Companies Cutting in 2025?

'DOGE Impact' remains the leading reason for job cut announcements in 2025, cited in 284,044 planned layoffs so far this year. This includes direct reductions to the Federal workforce and its contractors. Additionally, DOGE Downstream Impact, such as the loss of funding to private Non-Profits, was cited in another 10,459 cuts.

Market and Economic Conditions were the second-most cited reason for workforce reductions, responsible for 131,257 cuts year to date, followed by Closings of stores, units, or plants, which led to 94,439 layoffs.

Restructuring accounted for 62,015 cuts, while Bankruptcy was attributed to 35,501. Notably, Technological Updates, including those related to AI implementation, led to 20,000 job cuts so far in 2025..."

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If corporate layoffs are high, consumer spending may decline, since there would be fewer people with steady jobs.

When corporate layoffs are low, this can mean that the job market is relatively tight, which can be a harbinger of wage inflation.

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