US Job Cuts Fall in December; Lowest Monthly Total Since July 2024

According to the Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CG&C) Job Cut Announcement Report released on Thursday, US-based employers announced 35,553 job cuts in December, down 50% from 71,321 cuts in November. Year-over-year, announced cuts were down 8% from 38,792.

CG&C said December marked the lowest monthly total since July 2024, when 25,885 cuts were announced. It was also the lowest December total since 2023, when 34,817 job cuts were reported. December marked the fourth time this year that monthly job cuts came in below the same month one year earlier.

In 2025Q4, employers announced plans to cut 259,948 jobs, the highest fourth-quarter total since 2008, when 460,903 cuts were recorded. The 2025Q4 total was up 29% from 202,118 cuts in 2025Q3 and up 71% from 152,116 a year earlier. It was the highest quarterly total since 2025Q1, when 497,052 cuts were announced.

CG&C noted that job cuts in December were widespread, with significant reductions reported across government, technology, warehousing, retail, services, and news and media.

Hiring Plans

Employers announced plans to add 10,496 jobs in December, the highest December total since 2022, when 51,693 hiring plans were reported. The figure was up 16% from 9,074 hiring plans in November and up 31% from 7,999 in December 2024.

For full-year 2025, US employers announced 507,647 planned hires, down 34% from 769,953 in 2024. CG&C said this was the lowest year-to-date total since 2010, when 402,608 new hires were planned.

The 2025 hiring total included 372,520 seasonal hiring plans announced in Q4, the lowest number of seasonal hires since the firm began tracking the data in 2012. No new seasonal hiring plans were announced in November or December.