Government layoff news is worse than expected | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics finally released the September jobs report, 48 days later than it would have if the government hadn’t been shut down for 43 days.

The numbers were better than expected.

BLS September jobs data (month-to-month change)

Jobs added: 119,000
Civilian labor force: 171,248,000
Labor participation rate: 62.4% (+0.1%)
Employed people: 163,645,000 (+251,000)
Unemployment rate: 4.4% (+0.1%)
Unemployed people: 7,603,000 (+219,000) Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

“The stronger-than-expected non-farm payrolls at 119 thousand are likely to grab a few headlines as it suggests the labor market remains far from recessionary territory,” said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst for Capital.com.

But the government’s data painted a much brighter picture of the labor market than did other sources.

Data from the October jobs report from Challenger, Gray, & Christmas showed a different story.

U.S. employers announced 153,074 job cuts in the month, nearly triple the 55,597 cuts that were announced during this month last year. Perhaps even more concerning, lost jobs are also up 183% from September.

“Those laid off now are finding it harder to quickly secure new roles, which could further loosen the labor market,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray, & Christmas.

While Challenger’s data does not include the public sector, government workers bore the brunt of a lot of the labor market turnover in 2025.

The labor market has been hit hard by layoffs.

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The U.S. will cut more than 300,000 government jobs in 2025

The U.S. government expects to cut approximately 317,000 employees in 2025, according to Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management.

While the government also claims to have hired 68,000 workers this year, the layoff figure significantly exceeds the original estimate Kupor provided earlier in the year.

Largest private U.S. employers:

Walmart: 1.6 million employees
Amazon: 1.1 million employees
UPS: 443,000 employees
Target: 427,346 employees
Home Depot: 418,000 employees Source: Ringover

Kupor had said he expected to lay off 300,000 employees and hire 50,000 others. However, the cuts aren’t just affecting government employees.

“In addition to the roughly 2.1 million civilian full-time employees, the government has a huge external contractor infrastructure. We estimate there are at least two times the number of contractors employed as there are full-time employees (FTE) and that the government collectively spends about $750 billion annually on contractors,” Kupor said in a blog post.

“The government should utilize the expertise of contractors in the right ways; not as a substitute for hiring well-qualified employees working on behalf of the American people.”

Companies issued nearly 40,000 WARN notices in October, reaching record levels

The fourth quarter used to be a time when employers refrained from layoffs, but that courtesy seems to be a vestige of the past.

“Over the last decade, companies have shied away from announcing layoffs in the fourth quarter, so it’s surprising to see so many in October. With the onset of social media and the ability for workers to share their negative experiences with their employers, the trend of announcing layoffs before the holidays fell away, a practice that seemed particularly cruel,” Challenger recently said.

U.S. employers issued WARN notices for 39,006 Americans in October, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

The Fed has tracked WARN notices since 2008, and the number has only ever been higher in 2008, 2009, 2020, and May 2025.

Major employers have been announcing massive layoffs

Amazon, UPS, and Target, three of the largest employers in the country, have already announced plans to lay off tens of thousands of workers in the coming weeks.

General Motors is cutting hundreds of jobs at its Georgia IT center. And Molson Coors eliminated 400 salaried jobs across its Americas business, representing about 9% of its white-collar workforce.

According to tech market intelligence firm UnearthInsight, as many as 500,000 white-collar software workers could be laid off over the next two to three years, with approximately 70% of those layoffs affecting workers with four to 12 years of experience.