Labor Market
U.S.-based employers announced 43,994 job cuts in October, the lowest total for the month since 2023, according to a report released Thursday, Nov. 5, by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The count was up 2% from September’s 43,281 but down 71% from the 153,074 cuts announced in October 2025.
Through the first 10 months of the year, employers have announced 617,189 cuts, down 44% from 1,099,500 in the same period of 2025 and the lowest January-to-October total since 2022. October was the eighth month this year in which cuts came in below the same month a year earlier.
The same report showed employers announcing plans to hire 444,692 workers in October, up 57% from 283,138 a year earlier and the highest October total since at least 2009. Those are announced plans, not hires that have taken place, and most of them are seasonal.
“This is a low-fire environment,” Andy Challenger, the firm’s workplace expert and chief revenue officer, said in the release, adding that the hiring employers are announcing “is largely short-term, seasonal work.”
Where the cuts came from
Food companies led all industries in October with 9,677 announced cuts, the sector’s largest monthly total this year. Technology announced 5,576, its lowest monthly total of 2026, though the sector still leads the year with 171,501 cuts, up 21% from the same period last year and already above its 154,445 total for all of 2025. Services followed with 5,458 in October, FinTech with 4,173, Retail with 3,692 and Consumer Products with 3,672.
Challenger did not count Microsoft’s October voluntary exit offers to 60,000 employees. The firm records voluntary programs by the number of employees who accept or by a company’s stated reduction target, so the offers are outside October’s total.
By reason, market and economic conditions led for a second straight month, cited for 16,407 cuts, or 37% of the total. With 130,531 cuts so far this year, that reason has overtaken artificial intelligence as the leading cause of announced cuts in 2026. AI was cited for 1,265 October cuts, its lowest monthly total this year, and for 121,401 cuts year to date, about 20% of the total. Closings accounted for 10,250 October cuts and demand downturn for 6,118.
California led states in October with 10,032 announced cuts, followed by Washington with 7,233, New York with 4,671, Ohio with 4,592 and Michigan with 2,937. Georgia employers have announced 42,435 cuts so far this year, down 46% from the same period of 2025. That is a statewide figure; the report does not break out the Atlanta metro area.
Hiring plans are concentrated
Technology led October hiring plans with 300,252, but nearly all of that was Amazon’s plan to hire 300,000 seasonal workers. Challenger counts Amazon in technology even though the seasonal jobs are in warehousing and e-commerce fulfillment. It is the largest single seasonal hiring announcement the firm has tracked, 50,000 more than Amazon announced in each of the previous three years. Transportation followed with 100,000 planned hires and retail with 13,300. UPS announced 100,000 seasonal hires after making no announcement last year, the report said.
Seasonal hiring plans totaled 470,400 through October, up 26% from 372,520 a year earlier but below 660,150 in 2024. Only five companies had announced seasonal hiring so far this year, compared with 11 at this point last year, and seasonal roles make up 72% of all hiring plans announced in 2026.
The timing has also shifted. Employers announced 90,787 hiring plans in September, the fewest for that month since 2011, before the two largest seasonal announcements arrived in October.
What it means for job seekers
The report points to a market where layoff announcements are low but new permanent hiring is limited. Retailers announced cuts and seasonal hiring in the same month, and the largest openings carry built-in end dates. Workers taking holiday jobs should ask whether a position can convert to permanent work.
Challenger’s figures track announcements and stated plans, which may differ from actual separations and hires and can change. The Labor Department’s October employment report is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 6.
Sources
- Challenger, Gray & Christmas, “October Layoffs at Three-Year Low; Seasonal Hiring Plans Up 26%,” November 5, 2026. https://www.challengergray.com/blog/october-layoffs-at-three-year-low-seasonal-hiring-plans-up-26/
Featured photo: Boxes move along a conveyor at the UPS Lone Star distribution center hub in Arlington, Texas, Aug. 14, 2020. Representative image; not a 2026 seasonal hiring location. Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). Cropped from the original.
