US layoffs reach highest level since 2020 despite November decline

Layoffs have been announced By employers fell month-on-month in November but still pushed the 2025 total to the highest level since a wave of pandemic layoffs in 2020, new data from Challenger and Gray & Christmas show.

The report found that U.S. employers announced 71,321 layoffs in November, down 53% from the 153,074 layoffs announced in October.

November layoffs rose 24% from the 57,727 cuts announced that month last year, and have reached their peak. Highest level for the month since 2022, marking the eighth time this year that job cuts in a given month were higher than the corresponding month last year.

“Layoff plans eased last month,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “It’s certainly a positive sign. However, job cuts in November have risen to more than 70,000 only twice since 2008: in 2022 and in 2008.”

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Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that layoffs slowed in November, although the 2025 total so far is the highest since the pandemic. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Historically, November job cuts were less than 70,000 jobs from 1993 through 2000, then the recession year of 2001 pushed the cuts that month to more than 181,000 jobs, according to the company’s tracking. November layoffs remained high through 2009 and remained below 200,000 until the pandemic.

“The trend has been to announce layoff plans at the end of the year, to align with the end of the fiscal year for most companies. This became unpopular after the Great Recession in particular, and best practice dictated that layoff plans would occur at times other than holidays,” Challenger said.

Employers announced 1,170,821 job cuts this year through November, an increase of 54% from the 761,358 announced in the first 11 months of 2024.

Year-to-date job cuts have reached the highest level since 2020, when 2,227,725 cuts were announced through November amid… Covid-19 pandemic.

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Challenger found that this year marks the sixth time since 1993 that year-to-date job cuts through November have exceeded 1.1 million jobs. The number of layoffs through November is the fifth highest since 1993.

Other than 2020, the highest total of cumulative layoffs announced through November of a given year was 1,956,876 in 2001, also a record. Recession yearWhile 2002 saw 1,373,906. Another recession year, 2009, saw 1,242,936 employees laid off, according to Challenger tracking.

Telecommunications was the industry with the largest number of layoffs in November, with 15,139 job cuts announced, primarily from plans announced by Verizon. This is the highest monthly total for the sector since April 2020, when 16,552 layoffs were announced, and so far in 2025, the sector has announced 38,035 layoffs – an increase of 268% from last year.

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The technology sector announced the largest number of layoffs so far in 2025 through November. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

the Technology sector It announced 12,377 layoffs last month, bringing the 2025 total to 153,536, up 17% from last year.

Food companiesBeef companies, especially those in the beef industry, announced 6,708 cuts in November. This brings the cumulative total for 2025 to 34,165, an increase of 26% over last year.

Companies in the services sector announced 5,509 cuts in November, bringing their total for the year to 69,089, an increase of 64% from last year.

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Retailers cut There were 3,290 job cuts in November, and the sector has seen 91,954 layoffs announced this year, which is 139% more than in 2024.