Jobs website Glassdoor warned of “forever layoffs” in mid-November, as a small drip-drip-drip of cuts throughout the year flew under the radar of most newspaper headlines while instilling fear throughout white-collar ranks. Now, the recruitment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas has added a crucial bit of insight and one big number: 1.1. Million. That’s how many layoffs have been announced year-to-date, only the sixth time since 1993 that threshold has been breached. With the notable and understandable exception of the pandemic year of 2020, you have to go back to 2009 to find a year with greater layoffs, and that was in the very depths of the Great Recession.
TL;DR
- 1.1 million layoffs announced year-to-date, the sixth time since 1993 this threshold has been breached.
- Technology sector leads with over 150,000 positions eliminated, driven by staffing adjustments and automation.
- "Forever layoffs" are increasing, shifting from large events to frequent, smaller cuts affecting morale.
- Workers experience heightened job insecurity and anxiety, impacting confidence in management and job search leverage.
The technology sector continues to experience the most significant impact, as over 150,000 positions have been eliminated this year. Companies are still adjusting their staffing levels following periods of rapid growth, concurrently increasing their reliance on automated processes. Telecommunications companies, culinary businesses, consulting groups, merchandise sellers, charitable organizations, and news outlets are also reducing their workforces, frequently with double or triple the rate of reductions compared to the previous year.
U.S. Businesses declared 1,170,821 workforce reductions during the initial 11 months of 2025, representing a 54% increase compared to the corresponding timeframe in 2024. This positions 2025 as one of only six years since 1993 where declared dismissals up to November have surpassed 1.1 million, placing it alongside 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009, and the pandemic's disruption in 2020. The month of November alone witnessed 71,321 reductions, marking the highest figure for that month since 2022 and significantly exceeding typical pre-pandemic November figures.
Daniel Zhao, the lead economist at Glassdoor, mentioned in a conversation with Coins2Day that this figure actually doesn't reflect the usual, actual count of job cuts. He pointed to federal statistics from the JOLTS survey, indicating that approximately 1.7 individuals experienced layoffs during that same timeframe. "That's the case," he stated. “The interesting thing that we saw in our research is that the shape of these layoffs is changing,” “So instead of these large one-off layoffs, we’re seeing rolling layoffs and even some smaller layoffs as well.”
The “rolling layoff” must be considered amid the many conflicting signals of the economy of 2025, when “affordability” politics emerged to reflect mass unrest among vulnerable workers. Fears of a bubble in artificial intelligence have coincided with worker anxiety and Gen Z despair over an elevated unemployment rate and a dearth of entry-level positions.
Financial statements increasingly show, as many leaders term it, a “bifurcated” or “K-shaped” economic landscape, used to characterize the diverging paths of affluent and less affluent individuals. The more prosperous group is purchasing generously, with the top tenth of earners responsible for almost half of all consumer expenditures (and absorbing increased expenses passed on from trade duties), while consumers with lower incomes shows increasing signs of strain. Morgan Stanley market watcher Mike Wilson contends a “rolling recession” was impacting various segments of commerce and that, starting in April, a “rolling recovery” has been occurring in 2025.
Experts at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Research have pointed out that this rebound is primarily financial, evident in share values and booming earnings, and now also in the reduced need for white-collar staff. The period of “jobless growth” and process over people is becoming apparent, driven by ongoing workforce reductions.
Within the 'permanent job cuts' framework
Glassdoor’s 2026 Worklife Trends analysis describes a structural shift away from rare, large-scale reductions toward frequent layoffs affecting fewer than 50 workers at a time. These “forever layoffs” now account for a majority of cuts in some data, with the share of small layoffs rising from well under half in the mid-2010s to more than half by 2025. The new model allows leaders to continuously adjust headcount in response to markets and AI adoption without the reputational and morale shock of a single blockbuster layoff event.
Experts suggest that phased dismissals grant leaders considerable maneuverability and can reduce expenses related to termination packages and organizational realignments, all while sustaining business continuity through gradual task redistribution rather than abrupt team eliminations. However, what appears to be an effective strategy on paper, Glassdoor cautions, fosters a culture of gradual attrition where colleagues vanish without notice, the burden on remaining staff escalates, and individuals never feel secure in their positions.
Zhao characterized it as “keeping workers in suspense, where they’re constantly worried about their job security and they can’t focus on their work.” While these permanent job cuts may go unnoticed and not attract as many unfavorable news stories, “people internally know what’s up, they’re going to recognize what’s happening.” Ultimately, he stated his conviction that it significantly harms the workplace atmosphere, spirit, and consequently, output.
Zhao pointed to the job-application rejection percentage shown in Glassdoor statistics, which has been decreasing over the past twenty-four months. “I think what’s going on there is job seekers recognize that they don’t have the leverage to negotiate, as much leverage to negotiate on an offer, or they don’t feel confident in their ability to find a better offer elsewhere.” This outcome means more individuals are applying “settling” for any available position, rather than one that suits them.
According to Glassdoor's collected feedback, employee discussions of “layoffs” and “job insecurity” within company evaluations have surpassed their levels from March 2020, the period when the global economy initially experienced widespread shutdowns due to the pandemic. This indicates that employees in late 2025 are experiencing greater apprehension regarding potential job loss compared to the beginning of an unprecedented public health emergency. Confidence in top management has also diminished, with unfavorable characterizations of executives—such as “misaligned” or “hypocritical”—seeing a significant increase since 2024.
Planned hirings aren't counteracting the negative impact. According to the Challenger report, employers had declared 497,151 intended hires by November, a 35% decrease compared to the same period in the prior year, marking the lowest year-to-date figure since 2010. Given that recruitment is at a ten-year low and frequent dismissals are becoming standard, numerous individuals seeking employment are accepting positions they previously would have declined, merely to re-establish a presence in a more challenging environment.
Zhao rejected the notion of a “jobs recession,” while admitting that recruitment has been “very sluggish” for a considerable portion of the past two years, and there are indications of employment expansion decelerating sharply and entering negative figures, with certain months experiencing a decline in jobs.
“I think you would want to see more evidence before declaring an actual jobs recession,” he said. “A month here and there of negative jobs growth is not good, but we don’t want to declare a new trend based on just a month or two’s worth of data.”
AI, organizational changes, and the evolving power dynamics
A confluence of factors is influencing how businesses manage their workforces. According to Challenger's findings, the majority of job reductions in 2025 stem from organizational changes, the shutting down of operational segments, and prevailing market or economic circumstances. Additionally, tens of thousands of positions have been directly impacted by the integration of artificial intelligence. Since 2023, businesses have cited artificial intelligence as the reason for over 70,000 announced workforce reductions, as they automate repetitive tasks and restructure departments to accommodate new technologies.
Analysts at Glassdoor suggest that this situation has returned negotiating leverage to companies, following a period where employees were able to request greater flexibility, increased compensation, and quicker career progression. Personnel working remotely or in a hybrid capacity are now noting lower evaluations of their career prospects, as advancements are more frequently being granted to those who work on-site, compelling numerous individuals to exchange flexibility for a sense of stability.
Alongside the persistent talk of permanent job cuts, these compromises are paving the way for a work environment characterized more by ongoing uncertainty and a “do more with less” directive that shows no indication of lessening by 2026, rather than the empowerment seen during the pandemic.
The squeeze is showing up not just in corporate restructuring plans, but also in real-time payroll data. ADP’s November report, released Wednesday, found private employers shed 32,000 jobs last month—but nearly all of the losses came from small businesses, which cut 120,000 positions, while large corporations actually added 90,000 workers.
Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, described the downturn in the report as “broad-based,”, yet she stressed that smaller businesses, possessing restricted cash reserves and narrow profit margins, “are really weathering an uncertain macro environment and a cautious consumer.”. These smaller employers have contended with escalating operational expenses stemming from tariffs, energy costs, and a Federal Reserve reluctant to lower interest rates, a financial strain that more substantial enterprises have been significantly more capable of managing.
This disparity highlights the growing K-shaped trend in employment. Professional and company positions are being reduced via ongoing, less conspicuous dismissals, whereas smaller enterprises are experiencing direct cutbacks as they contend with tariffs, increased energy expenses, and diminished customer spending. Smaller operations typically let go of staff earliest during an economic slowdown because they notice the reduction in expenditure more rapidly and possess significantly less capacity to manage escalating operational expenses, according to Richardson toldAxios. Bigger corporations possess the financial resources, size, and funding to endure instability, even while they discreetly reorganize departments, but smaller employers quickly exhaust their financial leeway.
However, Howard Lutnick, Trump’s commerce secretary, blamed the data on the “Democrat shutdown,” instead of tariffs, during a interview on CNBC. The Cabinet secretary also stated those figures will “rebalance and they’ll regrow,” asserting “this is just a near-term event.”
Zhao said he thinks the forever layoffs are contributing to the “malaise” that workers feel about the economy of 2025. “There’s a significant amount of uncertainty and anxiety that workers are feeling around job security and the the risk that another layoff might be coming in just a month or two.” It means, he added, that “workers are constantly on edge.”
