Job Cuts in December Decreased Month-Over-Month but Increased Year-Over-Year

According to the Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. (CG&C) Job Cuts Report released today (1-5-23), US-based employers announced 43,651 job cuts in December, down 43% from the 76,835 announced job cuts in November. However, this is an increase of 129.0% from the 19,052 job cuts announced in December 2021.

CG&C notes that December’s total is the second-highest number of monthly job cuts announced in 2022 and market the eighth time last year (2022) when job cuts were higher than the corresponding month a year earlier.

In Q3, employers announced 154,329 job cuts, the highest quarterly total since 2020Q4, when 222,493 job cut announcements were made. It is 172% higher than the 56,749 job cuts announced in 2021Q4 and is 102% higher than the 76,284 cuts announced in the previous quarter.

In 2022, employers announced plans to cut 363,824 jobs, up from the 321,970 job cuts announced in 2021. This is the second-lowest recorded total since Challenger began tracking monthly job cut announcements in 1993, with 2021 holding the record for the lowest.