US job cut announcements continue to rise in March, Challenger says

(Sharecast News) - The number of layoff announcements in the U.S. continued to rise in March, the results of a survey revealed. According to consultancy Challenger, Gray&Christmas, the number of announcements increased by 7% versus February to reach 90,039.

That was virtually identical to the 89,703 hit during the same month of 2023.

However, for the first quarter as a whole job cut announcements jumped by 120% in comparison to the three months ending in December to reach 117,163.

"Layoffs certainly ticked up to round out the first quarter, though still below last year's levels," said Andy Challenger, senior vice president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Tech firms announced the most cuts during the first quarter, albeit 59% less than one year before.

But for March alone that sector was outdone by Government, which disclosed 36,044 job cuts, including 24,000 among the U.S. Army.

The services sector as a whole announced 16,014 cuts, against 16,612 one year before.

Industrial goods manufacturing, apparel, energy and education all announced more cuts during the quarter than in the same period of 2023.

Real estate, Healthcare, Retail and Automotive on the other hand announced fewer redundancies.