U.S. employers announced almost 100,000 job cuts in May, up an eye-watering 47% from the same month last year, according to new data released Thursday morning by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Even with a slight decline from April, the 47% year-over-year jump makes it clear: Layoffs are a rapidly accelerating trend. What was a murmur is becoming a scream.
“Tariffs, funding cuts, consumer spending, and overall economic pessimism are putting intense pressure on companies’ workforces,” said senior vice president Andrew Challenger. “Companies are spending less, slowing hiring, and sending layoff notices.”
In all, 2025 looks to be on track to scorch recent records.
Just six months into 2025, employers have already announced almost 700,000 job cuts. That’s a whopping 80% increase from the same period last year and just 65,000 short of all layoffs tracked in total in 2024.
The services sector (which includes temporary staffing, cleaning services, and other business-to-business support providers) led the way in May with more than 22,000 layoffs, the worst month for the category since May 2020.
Retailers followed with 11,483 job cut announcements, bringing their year-to-date total to more than 75,000. That’s up 274% from the same point in 2024.
Nonprofits, likely hit by downstream effects of federal funding reductions, also saw significant pain, with layoffs in that sector up a shattering 504% year-over-year.
Government-related layoffs remain the biggest single source of reductions, with more than 284,000 job cuts attributed to direct or indirect impacts of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a Trump administration initiative driving mass federal workforce reductions.
Tech sector layoffs also surged in May, according to TrueUp.io, with 24,467 tech employees impacted and Panasonic, Microsoft (MSFT), Walmart (WMT), and OpenText (OTEX) among the largest contributors. Per the Challenger Gray data, the tech sector now trails only government and retail for total layoffs in 2025, with total layoffs for 2025 already sitting at nearly 75,000, representing a 35% year-over-year surge.
Separately, Procter & Gamble (PG) announced plans Thursday to eliminate 7,000 white-collar jobs over the next two years as it exits underperforming categories and regions. While not immediate, the cuts signal a broader shift in strategy for the consumer goods giant and add to the white-collar layoff trend.
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