Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a consulting firm that keeps a record of announced or approved layoffs, published its report for March.
According to the report, the number of layoffs announced by US-based employers reached 90,309 in March, up 7 percent month-on-month. In February, 84,638 people were announced to be laid off.
Thus, the country recorded the highest level of layoffs in March since January 2023.
In March, the highest number of layoffs was in the public sector with 36,44 people, the highest monthly number of layoffs since September 2011.
While layoffs in the first quarter of this year increased by 120 percent compared to the last quarter of last year, they decreased by 7 percent compared to the January-March period of 2023 to 257,254.
Although layoffs in the technology sector decreased by 59 percent year-on-year to 42,442 in the first quarter, it was one of the sectors where the most layoffs were announced.
Cost-cutting was the main reason for layoffs
In the first quarter, 66,302 people were laid off due to “cost cutting”, 48,352 due to “restructuring” and 38,619 due to “business, unit or store closures”.
On the other hand, the number of people announced by US employers to be hired in the first quarter decreased by 48 percent compared to the same period last year to 36,795 people. This number was recorded as the lowest number of hiring plans announced since 2016.
