US layoffs rise 7% in March; highest ever in 14 months: Report

Driven by job cuts in technology and government-sector, layoffs in the United States rose 7% in March which is the highest since March 2023, reported Reuters. However, the report also noted that the job cuts announced at the year to date are down 5% from a year ago.

Job cuts in US

Reuters quoted outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas and said that the job cut announcements increased to 90,309 in March from 84,638 in February. Compared to March last year, the job cut has increased just slightly by 0.7%. In March 2023, 89,703 jobs were cut.

Sector wise, the technology sector saw the most number of job cuts in the first quarter announcing 14,224 in March and 42,442 since the year began. This was followed by the US government that had let go 36,044 employees which is the highest since September 2011. The US government is mostly reducing headcount within Veterans Affairs and the United States Army.

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As per Challenger, employers mostly cited cost-cutting and restructuring efforts as reasons for job eliminations.

“Many companies appear to be reverting to a ‘do more with less’ approach. While technology continues to lead all industries so far this year, several industries, including energy and industrial manufacturing, are cutting more jobs this year than last,” said Andy Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc

In an indication of the US job market faring much better than last year in the wake of higher interest rates, the first three months of 2024 has seen only 257,254 layoffs as against 270,416 job cuts in last year's first quarter.

Meanwhile, a report from payroll processor ADP on Wednesday indicated a greater-than-expected 184,000 private-sector jobs were created last month, and the government on Friday is expected to report about 200,000 payroll jobs overall were added in March.