Economy: Challenger Job Cuts Report for NOVEMBER 2025

Thursday, December 04, 2025

Challenger Job Cuts Report for NOVEMBER 2025

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

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Job Cuts Announced During November 2025: 71,321

Previous Month: 153,074

> Change from previous month: -53.41% (-81,753 cuts)

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One-Year Previous: 57,727

> Change from one-year previous: +23.55% (+13,594 cuts)

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From Today's Report:

"...WHY ARE COMPANIES CUTTING IN 2025?

In November, Restructuring led all reasons with 20,217 for a total of 128,255 in 2025. Store, unit, or department Closing accounted for 17,140 in November, and 178,531 for the year.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) was cited for 6,280 cuts in November. So far this year, AI is responsible for 54,694 layoff plans. Since 2023, when this reason was first cited, AI has led to 71,683 job cut announcements.

Market and Economic Conditions were cited for 15,755 job cuts in November. So far this year, 245,086 job cuts have been attributed to market and/or economic conditions. Tariffs have been cited for 7,908 job cuts this year with 2,061 occurring in November.

Though the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has not been the cause of job cut announcements in two months, “DOGE Impact” remains the leading reason for job cut announcements in 2025, cited in 293,753 planned layoffs so far this year. This includes direct reductions to the Federal workforce and its contractors.

An additional 20,976 cuts have been attributed to DOGE Downstream Impact, which reflects the loss of federal funding to private and non-profit entities..."

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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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