The Trump administration’s massive federal cuts and swelling feelings of economic uncertainty helped fuel a recession-level spike in layoff plans last month, new data showed Thursday.
US-based employers last month announced plans to slash 172,017 jobs, a 103% increase from a year ago and the highest February total since 2009, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas’s latest monthly job cuts report released Thursday.
The 11 others (four came during the Covid-19 pandemic) all occurred when the US was in a recession, Challenger data shows.
The largest share of job cut announcements came in the government sector, where the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency has axed jobs, slashed federal spending and scrapped contracts.
Outside of the government, the next largest cuts were in retail (38,956), technology (14,554) and consumer products (10,625).
“That in itself is something that is concerning and does portend a shift in the way employers are approaching this labor market,” he said.
It’s more likely, economists have told CNN, that federal cuts will be more visible in the March and April jobs reports. »
