【Epoch Times News Update on December 5, 2025】The US employment consulting company, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, released a report on Thursday, December 4, showing that the number of job cuts in American companies had surpassed one million by November 2025.
Based in Chicago, this professional recruitment company stated that the announced job cuts by American businesses in November totaled 71,321, slightly down from the significant cuts announced in October. However, this raised the total number of job cuts in 2025 to 1.17 million, an increase of about 54% compared to the same period last year, marking the highest level since the global economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Andy Challenger, the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a workplace expert, commented, “Job cut plans decreased last month, which is certainly a positive sign. However, since 2008, there have only been two instances where job cuts surpassed 70,000 in November: in 2022 and 2008.”
Challenger also noted that since the 2008 financial crisis, companies generally avoid layoffs at the end of the year. “The past trend has been to announce job cut plans near year-end to coincide with the end of most companies’ fiscal years,” Challenger said, pointing out that this practice became unpopular, particularly after the Great Recession of 2007-2009. The best practice has now become to avoid announcing job cut plans during the holiday season as much as possible.
The report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas revealed that telecommunications giant Verizon announced cutting over 13,000 positions in November, becoming a major factor driving up the total job cuts for that month. Driven by advancements in artificial intelligence technology, tech companies cut 12,377 jobs in November, leading to a 17% increase in job cuts in the industry compared to the same period last year. The artificial intelligence sector itself has laid off 54,694 employees this year.
The report cited tariff factors as one of the reasons for layoffs, with the most commonly mentioned reasons for job cuts in November being business restructuring, followed by business closures and market or economic conditions.
However, compared to the data from October, there was a slight easing in job cuts in November. Last month saw over 153,000 job cuts, setting the highest record for October layoffs in 22 years.
On Wednesday, ADP, a salary processing company, released its national employment report, showing that private businesses in the United States cut 32,000 jobs in November, primarily due to a decrease in employment in small businesses.