Published March 6, 2025
U.S.-based employers announced 172,017 job cuts in February, the highest total for the month since 2009 when 186,350 job cuts were recorded. It is the highest monthly total since July 2020 when 262,649 cuts were announced, according to a report released Thursday from global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
February’s total is a 245% increase from the 49,795 cuts announced one month prior. It is a 103% increase from the 84,638 cuts announced in the same month last year.
Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
So far this year, employers have announced 221,812 job cuts, the highest year-to-date (YTD) total since 2009 when 428,099 job cuts were planned. It is up 33% from the 166,945 cuts announced during the same period in 2024.
“Private companies announced plans to shed thousands of jobs last month, particularly in Retail and Technology. With the impact of the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] actions, as well as canceled Government contracts, fear of trade wars, and bankruptcies, job cuts soared in February,“ said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President and workplace expert for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Which Industries are Cutting the Most?
Government & DOGE
The Government led all sectors in job cuts in February. Challenger tracked 62,242 announced job cuts by the Federal Government from 17 different agencies last month. So far this year, the Government has cut 62,530, an increase of 41,311% from the 151 cuts announced through February 2024.
“It appears the administration wants to cut even more workers, but an order to fire the roughly 200,000 probationary employees was blocked by a federal judge. It remains to be seen how many more workers will lose their Federal Government roles,” said Challenger.
“When mass layoffs occur, it often leaves remaining staff feeling uneasy and uncertain. The likelihood that many more workers leave voluntarily is high,” he added.
Retail
Retailers followed with 38,956 job cut plans for a total of 45,375. This is a 572% increase from the 6,751 Retail job cuts announced in the first two months of 2024.
Technology
Technology continues to be a leading job-cut sector, though YTD cuts have fallen in this industry. Technology companies announced 14,554 job cuts in February for a total of 22,042 cuts in 2025. This is down 22% from the 28,218 cuts announced during the same period last year.
Services & Consumer Products
Services have planned nearly the same number of job cuts through February as during January-February last year: 13,804 in 2025 compared to 13,503 in 2024. Consumer Products manufacturers announced plans to cut 12,947 jobs through February, 10,625 of which occurred last month. This is a 95% increase from the 6,629 cuts planned through February 2024.
Media & News Cuts
The Media industry has announced 1,557 cuts so far in 2025, down 67% from the 4,685 cuts announced in the first two months of last year.
News, which Challenger tracks as a subset of Media and includes broadcast, digital, and print, has announced 324 job cuts so far this year, down 82% from the 1,754 cuts announced during the same period last year. It is the lowest January-February total since 2022, when 200 News cuts were announced.
Why are Companies Cutting?
“DOGE Impact” leads job cut reasons this year and was attributed to 63,583 layoffs, both directly to the Federal workforce and to contractors. Downstream impacts of DOGE, such as loss of funding to private Non-Profits, led to another 894 job cut plans.
So far this year, Market/Economic Conditions were attributed to 36,257 cuts, while Bankruptcy was the reason for 35,411. Store, unit, or plant Closing was the cause of 28,095 job cuts in 2025.
Where are Job Cuts Occuring?
Challenger tracks job cuts by headquarter location unless the announcement specifies where the layoffs will occur.
So far this year, the East region has experienced a steep increase in job cuts, primarily due to the cuts recorded for Federal Agencies. The East experienced a 109% year-over-year increase from 51,186 to 107,109. The District of Columbia saw the largest increase from 60 in 2024 to 61,795 in 2025. New Jersey also saw a drastic increase from 1,088 to 16,918. However, New York, saw a decline in job cut activity, dropping from 35,279 to 17,859, a 49% decrease. Massachusetts also experienced a slight dip of 8%, while Pennsylvania remained relatively stable with a 2% increase.
The Midwest region also saw significant job cut activity, with a 61% increase from 25,722 in 2024 to 41,506 in 2025. The largest increase occurred in Ohio, jumping from 3,651 to 22,592, a 519% increase. Minnesota more than doubled its numbers, rising from 884 to 2,079 (135%). However, Illinois and Michigan, two of the larger contributors, saw declines of 22% and 10%, respectively. Missouri also witnessed a sharp drop of 56%, falling from 3,257 to 1,436, while Wisconsin saw a 77% drop from 4,600 to 1,053.
Meanwhile, the West region experienced an overall 10% decline, dropping from 63,475 in 2024 to 57,269 in 2025. Texas, however, saw an increase in job cuts from 5,096 to 12,916, a 154% rise. Arizona and Oklahoma also saw increased activity: 62% and 161%, respectively. Meanwhile, California, the largest contributor in the region, fell 17%, from 34,575 through February last year to 28,635 cuts this year. Washington also declined by 45%, and Oregon saw a steep fall from 3,255 to 56 job cuts.
The South region saw the most substantial decline in job cuts, dropping 40.1% from 26,562 in 2024 to 15,928 in 2025. Georgia experienced the steepest fall, plummeting from 13,371 to just 267, a 98% decrease. North Carolina and South Carolina also saw sharp declines of 36.9% and 83.7%, respectively. Florida more than doubled its job cut numbers, increasing 74.4% from 3,434 to 5,987. Tennessee had an extraordinary jump from 782 to 4,202, a 437.3% increase, and Arkansas also saw job cuts, from 0 through February 2024 to 325 so far in 2025.
Hiring Plans in 2025
Companies’ hiring plans surged in February to 34,580. So far this year, companies plan to hire 40,669 workers, an increase of 159% from the 15,693 hiring plans announced during the same period last year. This is the highest number for February since 2022, when companies announced 215,127 new hires.
Entertainment/Leisure plans to hire 28,000 new workers, while Automotive announced 4,831 new workers this year. Technology announced plans to hire 3,225 new workers so far in 2025.
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Contact Colleen Madden Blumenfeld for more data or to set up an interview with SVP Andy Challenger.
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