Private Sector Job Cuts Down Month-Over-Month but Up Year-Over-Year in April

According to the Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. (CG&C) Job Cuts Report released Thursday (5-4-23), US-based employers announced 66,995 job cuts in April. This is down 25% from the 89,703 announced job cuts in March. However, it is up 176% from the 24,286 job cuts announced in April 2022. CG&C notes that April’s total marks the fourth consecutive month this year when cuts were higher than the corresponding month a year earlier.

Year-to-date through April 30th, employers announced plans to cut 337,411 jobs, an increase of 322% from the 79,982 cuts announced during the same time period in 2022. CG&G says it is the highest January–April total since 2020, when 1,017,812 cuts were announced. With the exception of 2020, CG&C notes that this is the highest January–April total since 2009, when 711,100 cuts were announced.

Although job cuts fell month-over-month, hiring plans have also declined significantly from 2022. In April, companies announced plans to add 23,310 positions for a total of 93,948 so far this year. This is down 81% form the 486,603 hiring plans announced in the same period of 2022. It is the lowest announced number of hiring plans through April since 2016, when CG&C tracked 38,455 hiring plans for the first four months of the year.