According to the September U.S. government unemployment report, the job market is seeing mixed results.
Bureau of Labor Statistics‘ August data showed a slight uptick in the unemployment rate to 4.3% for the third consecutive month, as employers added just 22,000 new jobs.
The September numbers were initially scheduled to be published on October 3, but the government shutdown delayed their release by 48 days to November 20. Once it was released, the data showed that unemployment ticked up again to 4.4%, despite 119,000 new jobs being created in the month.
Jobs data from non-government sources paint an even more concerning picture.
On Thursday, Challenger, Gray & Christmas released their November jobs report, and the data shows a struggling U.S. jobs market.
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U.S. employers layoff 71,000 workers in November
U.S.-based employers announced 71,321 job cuts in November, according to outplacement consultancy firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
The number for November 2025 is 24% higher than last year’s and is the highest for the month since 2022, when employers cut 76,835 jobs. It is the eighth time this year that Challenger’s numbers show a year-over-year increase.
Related: November job losses hit two US regions the hardest
Worst Layoff Years Through November
- 2020: 2.23 million
- 2001: 1.96 million
- 2002: 1.37 million
- 2009: 1.24 million
- 2025: 1.17 million
- 2003: 1.14 million
- Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas
But it isn’t all bad news for the U.S. jobs market.
“Layoff plans fell last month, certainly a positive sign. That said, job cuts in November have risen above 70,000 only twice since 2008: in 2022 and in 2008,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Through November, employers have announced more than 1.17 million job cuts, a 54% increase from the 761,358 announced through the first 11 months of 2024.
Year-to-date totals are the highest they’ve been since 2020, when the Covid pandemic forced more than 2.22 million job cuts through November.
2025 is only the sixth year since 1993 where job cuts through November have surpassed 1.1 million, according to Challenger data.
Three of the four years, excluding 2025 (2020, 2001, and 2009), were recession years.
Telecom, Tech companies announce the most job cuts as AI plays a role
More than 20,000 layoffs in November were attributed to restructuring plans. It was the leading reason for layoffs.
Store closings came in second with more than 17,000 layoffs attributed to store unit or department closing.
Related: Tech giant’s layoffs hit nearly 2,000 engineers
Artificial intelligence was cited for 6,280 job cuts in November. Through 11 months, AI is responsible for nearly 55,000 job losses. While the number is relatively low, it is accelerating. Challenger says AI has resulted in fewer than 72,000 layoffs since it began tracking the statistic in 2023, so most of them occurred this year.
Telecom providers announced 15,139 job cuts in the month, led by a big culling by Verizon. It was the busiest month for the industry since April 2020.
The tech sector continued to lead the private-sector in job cuts with tech companies announcing another 12,377 job cuts. So far this year, tech companies have announced 153,536 job cuts, a 17% increase over a year ago.
ADP layoff data correlates with Challenger’s
The monthly ADP private sector jobs report is one of the most trusted non-government sources for jobs data.
ADP, one of the largest human resources technology companies in the country, bases its National Employment Report on anonymized weekly payroll data from more than 26 million U.S. private-sector employees, representing approximately one-fifth of the country’s private-sector workforce.
The data are so trusted that even the Federal Reserve has used them since 2018 to supplement BLS reports. However, that partnership ended in October under mysterious circumstances, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Private employers cut 32,000 jobs in November, with construction, manufacturing, professional/business services, and information services leading the job losses, according to ADP numbers.
“Hiring has been choppy of late as employers weather cautious consumers and an uncertain macroeconomic environment,” said ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson. “And while November’s slowdown was broad-based, it was led by a pullback among small businesses.”
While the construction and manufacturing industries saw job declines of 9,000 and 18,000, respectively, the natural resources and mining industry added 8,000 jobs.
Information services (20,000), financial activities (9,000), and professional/business services (26,000) lost jobs, while education/health services (33,000), leisure/hospitality (13,000), and trade/transportation/utilities (1,000) gained jobs during the month.
The job losses were also uneven by region.
The Northeast and South reported steep job losses, while the Midwest and West reported job gains.
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