A report from employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
showed Thursday that the U.S. businesses announced 66,995 job cuts in November,
up 23.5 per cent from the 36,836 layoffs announced in October. This marked the
first rise in job cuts in three months.
Year-to-date, U.S. employers announced intentions to cut 686,860 jobs,
the highest January-November total since 2020.
According to the report, retail led all industries for the month with 6,548
cuts in November or 14.4 per cent of all announced job cuts. It was followed
by the technology (5.049, or 11.1 per cent of all cuts), financial (3,698, or 8.1
per cent), and transportation (3,515, or 7.7 per cent) sectors.
From January through November, the technology sector announced the largest
number of job cuts (163,562, or 23.8 per cent of all cuts). It was followed by
the retail sector (78,730, or 11.5 per cent of all cuts), health care/products
companies (57,758, or 8.4
per cent of
all cuts), and financial companies (50.792, or 7.4 per cent of all cuts).
Commenting on the latest report, Andrew Challenger, senior vice
president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., noted that the U.S. job
market is loosening, and employers are not as quick to hire. “The labour market
appears to be stabilizing with a more normal churn, though we expect to
continue to see layoffs going into the New Year,” he added.