Announced Job Cuts 86% Lower Year-Over-Year in March 2021

According to the latest report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CG&C), Inc, a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm, planned job cuts announced by U.S. based employers fell 86% in March to 30,603 from the 222,288 job cuts announced in March 2020, when the fallout from the COVID-19 lockdowns began to impact businesses across the country. March’s total is -11% lower than the 34,531 cuts announced in February. It is the lowest monthly total since July 2018 when 27,122 cuts were recorded and the lowest quarterly total since Q4 2019, when 127,687 cuts were announced. Through the first quarter, 144,686 job cuts have been announced, -58% lower than the 346,683 announced in the first quarter of 2020. In comments prepared for the release of the report, Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of CG&C said, “We have now marked one year since the first wave of layoffs occurred due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. It appears we have entered a recovery phase where job eliminations are slowing, and companies are able to predict and assess where growth will occur.”