Job cut announcements fall in June, but up year-to-date, Challenger says

(Sharecast News) - Job cut announcements in the US ran at roughly the same pace as last year in June, but the trend appeared to be pointing clearly higher. "The bulk of companies cited economic conditions last month. We saw some DOGE activity and have tracked over 2,000 jobs directly attributed to tariffs this year, but for the most part it was a quiet June," said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President and labour expert for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

According to the consultancy, US-based corporates announced 47,999 headcount reductions last month.

That was 2% fewer announcements than during the same month of 2024 and 49% less than in May.

Nonetheless, for the second quarter as a whole, announcements ran at a pace of 247,256 or 39% more than one year before and at their quickest pace since 2020.

Similarly, year-to-date companies had unveiled 744,308 job cuts, the most since the 1.585m announced over the same stretch of 2020.

"Outside of 2020, it is the highest YTD since 896,675 cuts were announced in the first six months of 2009," Challenger said.

Year-to-date, Retail was the sector that had shed the most private-sector jobs at 79,865, for a 255% jump on a year before.

'DOGE impact' meanwhile was cited as the leading reason for announcements since January, having been cited in 286,679 layoffs since the start of the year.

Market and economic conditions was the second-most cited reason for layoffs.