US firms announce 15% more job cuts in March, Challenger says

Job cut announcements in the States continued rising last month, one of the country's largest staffing companies said.

Companies based in the US announced 15% more job reductions in March than one year before to reach 89,703, according to Challenger.

"We know companies are approaching 2023 with caution, though the economy is still creating jobs. With rate hikes continuing and companies reigning in costs, the large-scale layoffs we are seeing will likely continue," said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

For the entire first quarter, 270,416 job cuts had been announced, marking a near four-fold increase versus 2022.

March's tally was also the highest since the third quarter of 2020 when 497,215 cuts were announced.

Technology firms announced 102,391 cuts during the first quarter, which was already 5% more than 2022's full-year tally.

According to Challenger, the only years during which Tech had announced more layoffs were 2001 and 2002, when 168,396 and 131,294 cuts were recorded.

Financial firms had announced the second most job cuts in 2023 at 30,635 for a 419% jump when compared with the same quarter of 2022.

Retail announced the fourth most cuts, or 21,426, in what Challenger said might be a possible sign of decreased expectations.