US employers announce fewest August job cuts since 2022 despite slow hiring
Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that US employers announced 52,881 job cuts in August, the lowest August total since 2022 and 58 per cent above July's 33,429. CBS News reported that the eight-month total of nearly 530,000 cuts is the lowest since 2022, and quoted the firm's Andy Challenger saying that while layoffs stay muted, companies remain slow to fill the positions they say they plan to add.
Economics & Markets··Morning
Challenger's August count
Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that US employers announced 52,881 job cuts in August, up 58 per cent from July's 33,429 and 38 per cent below the 85,979 planned in August 2025, making it the lowest August total since 2022. Through eight months, employers have announced 529,914 cuts, 41 per cent fewer than the 892,362 announced over the same stretch last year. Restructuring led the reasons cited, with 16,173 announcements, or 31 per cent of the August total, and excluding the government sector, announcements over the first eight months came to 507,685 against 597,089 a year earlier, a 15 per cent decline. The firm said announced hiring plans were 37 per cent above last year, and that January through August is the lightest such stretch since 2022, when 179,506 cuts were announced.[1]
What CBS News adds about hiring and sectors
CBS News reported that layoffs fell to their lowest level in four years even as the labour market's broader signals stayed mixed: the unemployment rate dipped to 4.1 per cent in July, but job growth reversed that month, with employers shedding 23,000 jobs. The outlet quoted Andy Challenger, the firm's chief revenue officer, saying that while low layoffs would ideally coincide with a pickup in hiring, the positions employers say they plan to add do not appear to be getting filled quickly. CBS News reported that the consumer products industry led August's cuts with more than 10,000 layoffs, followed by the food industry and technology companies, and that technology firms have announced more layoffs than any other sector over the first eight months of the year, with more than 155,000 cuts; it noted that artificial intelligence was not a main driver of those cuts.[2]
Muted cuts, lagging hiring
Challenger's own count of 52,881 August job cuts and CBS News's reporting on the same data describe one labour-market signal from two angles: the firm's release supplies the reasons and the sector detail behind the drop, while the outlet situates that figure against July's unemployment rate and payroll reversal. The eight-month total of 529,914 cuts, or 507,685 once the government is excluded, sits alongside CBS News's finding that technology firms led all sectors with more than 155,000 announced cuts this year even as artificial intelligence was not the main driver behind them. Andy Challenger's quote about hiring lagging behind low layoffs adds a third data point from the same report: cuts are muted, but the hiring plans employers announced are not yet converting into filled positions, both sources say.[1], [2]
