US-Based Employers Job Cuts Increase in December

According to the latest Job Cut Report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CG&C), Inc, a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm, job cuts announced by U.S. based employers rose 28.1% in December to 19,052 from the 14,875 job cuts announced in November. However, the number remains -75.3% below the 77,030 job cuts announced in December of 2020.

In Q4 of 2021, U.S. companies announced a total of 56,749 job cuts, up 7.4% from the announced Q3 total of 52,560, but down -74.5% from the 222,249 cuts announced in the same quarter in 2020.

In 2021, employers announced plans to cut 321,970 jobs from their payrolls, down -86% from the 2,304,755 jobs eliminated in 2020. It is the lowest annual total on record, since Challenger began tracking in 1993.

In remarks prepared for the release of the October report, Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of CG&C said, “Quits hit a new record in November with 4.5 million. Workers are leaving jobs in droves, particularly in-person jobs in Entertainment/Leisure, Health Care, and Transportation, according to the Department of Labor. This trend is likely to continue as we contend with the largest surge in COVID cases we’ve yet seen, spurred by Omicron.”

“The sheer number of COVID cases will impact the labor market, regardless of how severe illnesses are,” Challenger said. “Working parents are dealing with massive interruptions in schooling, requiring them to revert to managing virtual classes or take over childcare themselves. Meanwhile, those with COVID safety concerns will continue to shun in-person roles.”

“The main difference between now and prior COVID waves is that much of the financial support from the government — expanded unemployment benefits, pandemic pay, sick leave, child credits, student loan payment suspension, eviction moratoriums — is gone, which may push workers who were leaving the workforce for childcare, COVID concerns, or burnout back into the labor market before they would have with that assistance intact,” Challenger added.