January Layoffs Surge Across US, Jobs Report Says
ToplineJanuary was the worst start to a year for job cuts in the United States since 2009, with high-profile layoffs at UPS and Amazon fueling a tumultuous beginning to 2026 on the labor market, according to a private firm’s report, as official government reports remain delayed.There were 108,000 job cuts in January, the most in a January since 2009. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.Key FactsThe 108,435 job cuts last month represented a 118% jump from the same period last year and the most in any January since 2009, when the U.S. was reeling from the Great Recession triggered by a housing market crisis, consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in its latest monthly report.The decline comes after previous signs of a stabilizing labor market in December, when 35,553 layoffs marked the lowest total since July 2024. It suggests most of the January layoffs were set in motion in 2025, “signaling employers are less-than-optimistic about the outlook...






