Challenger Reports U.S. Job Cuts Increased 27.5% in October

According to the latest Job Cut Report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CG&C) Inc., a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm, U.S.-based employers’ announced job cuts rose by 27.5% in October to 22,822 — up from the 17,895 announced in September. This is the highest monthly total since May 2021, when 24,586 cuts were recorded. Year-over-year, October’s total is -72% lower; 80,666 cuts were announced in October 2020.

So far this year, employers have announced plans to cut 288,043 jobs from their payrolls, down -87% from the 2,162,928 jobs eliminated through the same period last year. It is the lowest January-October total on record.

Last month, the majority of cuts (5,796) were attributed to plant, store, and unit closing. Workers’ refusing to comply with vaccine mandates accounted for 5,071 cuts in October. Since June, when vaccines were widely available to adults, 6,843 workers have been cut or left their jobs for this reason. It is currently the 10th highest reason for job cuts this year, according to Challenger tracking.

In a statement prepared for the release of the October report, Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of CG&C said, “We know companies are holding tight to their workers and are in fact looking for workers. However, we also know that for many employers, a federal vaccine mandate from OSHA is forthcoming, and for many government employees and contractors, as well as for health care providers, mandates already exist. This complicates hiring and retention efforts.”