Layoffs this year are the worst they've been since the pandemic

So far in 2025, 1.17 million people have lost their jobs. That's the highest total the U.S. has seen since the onset of the COVID pandemic in 2020, according to a new report Thursday from the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

It's also a 54% increase over the first 11 months of 2024, the firm said. November saw a decrease from 153,000-plus October's job cuts, but another 71,321 people lost their jobs, Challenger said. That was due, in part, to Verizon's announcement that it would cut 13,000 jobs. A November hasn't seen this many job cuts since 2022.

Hiring, meanwhile, continues to lag, hitting its lowest point in 15 years. Through the end of last month, U.S. employers have announced just 497,151 planned hires, a 35% drop compared to the same period in 2024. That number could be even worse historically than it appears, as the 2025 count includes seasonal hiring, something Challenger did not include in its counts until 2012.

While Challenger said the economy could see a small hiring surge in December, it likely wouldn't be sustained.

“The increased spending over the Black Friday and the Thanksgiving weekend may give rise to hires in December right before the holiday," said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "It’s unclear, however, if those positions will last into the New Year.”

ADP, meanwhile, reported Wednesday that private employers eliminated 32,000 jobs last month, the biggest decline in more than two-and-a-half years. Restructuring was cited as the most common cause for the November layoffs. Closings and market and economic conditions were also heavily cited. Tariffs were blamed for 2,000 of the November cuts.

While the Challenger report doesn't have the same economic weight as jobless numbers from the Labor Department, it has been increasingly valuable this year, as the federal government shutdown eliminated a full jobs report for October, and the November report has also been delayed. It won't be delivered until Dec. 16, which is after this month's Federal Reserve meeting.