Layoffs last month marked the worst January since 2009

Employers laid off 108,435 people last month, the highest January number since 2009, according to a new report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. At the same time, hiring intentions haven't been lower since then.

The number reflects a 118% increase over January 2025 and more than doubles the total layoffs of last December. New hires came in at just 5,306, the lowest number since Challenger began tracking that data point in 2009.

“Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in the first quarter, but this is a high total for January. It means most of these plans were set at the end of 2025, signaling employers are less-than-optimistic about the outlook for 2026,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Just under half of the job cuts came from two companies: UPS and Amazon $AMZN. UPS announced plans to lay off 31,243 workers, largely due to the winding down of its contract with Amazon. And the retail giant has announced plans to lay off 16,000 workers.

While both of those announcements received ample public attention, Challenger says hospitals and healthcare companies announced 17,107 job cuts last month, the most since April 2020.

“Healthcare providers and hospital systems are grappling with inflation and high labor costs," said Challenger. "Lower reimbursements from Medicaid and Medicare are also hitting hospital systems. These pressures are leading to job cuts, as well as other cutting measures, such as some pay and benefits."

The Challenger numbers are turning investor heads, since the recent short government shutdown is once again delaying the monthly jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Originally scheduled to be released Friday morning, that now won't be out until next Wednesday.