U.S.-based employers announced 43,994 job cuts in October, the lowest total for the month since 2023, according to a report released Thursday, November 5, by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the global outplacement and executive coaching firm that has tracked announced layoffs for decades. The October figure was up just 2% from the 43,281 cuts announced in September, but down 71% from the 153,074 announced in October 2025 — a sign, the firm said, that employers are holding on to the workers they have as the holiday season approaches.

October was the eighth month this year in which announced cuts came in below the same month a year earlier, and the monthly total sat well below the 56,348 average for October recorded from 2015 to 2025. In October 2023, by comparison, employers announced 36,836 cuts.

Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas

A 'low-fire environment', in the firm's own words

"This is a low-fire environment. Employers are holding on to the workers they have heading into the holidays, and the hiring they are announcing is largely short-term, seasonal work. Companies want the flexibility to meet holiday demand without adding permanent headcount," said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Through the first ten months of 2026, employers have announced 617,189 job cuts, down 44% from the 1,099,500 announced in the same period of 2025. It is the lowest January-to-October total since 2022, when 243,338 cuts were announced in the first ten months of the year. Twenty-two of the 30 industries Challenger tracks have announced fewer cuts than at this point last year.

The reason for cuts has shifted — from AI to the economy itself

Market and economic conditions led all stated reasons for job cuts in October for the second consecutive month, cited for 16,407 cuts, or 37% of the month's total. With 130,531 cuts attributed to that reason so far this year, market and economic conditions have now overtaken artificial intelligence as the leading reason employers give for cutting jobs in 2026.

Artificial intelligence was cited for just 1,265 cuts in October, its lowest monthly total of the year, though AI still accounts for 121,401 announced cuts in 2026 — about 20% of all cuts — and for 193,226 cuts since Challenger began tracking AI as a distinct reason in 2023. Closings accounted for 10,250 cuts in October and 109,342 for the year, demand downturn was cited for 6,118 cuts in the month, and restructuring for 5,499.

"The reasons employers give have shifted from technology to the economy. AI dominated layoff announcements through the spring and summer, but this fall companies are pointing to demand and economic conditions. That is a more cautious signal, though the overall pace of cutting remains low," Challenger said.

Source: TheStreet (Challenger report coverage)

Which industries are cutting — and which are not

Food companies led all industries in October with 9,677 job cuts, the sector's highest monthly total this year. Food employers have announced 39,370 cuts in 2026, up 43% from the 27,457 announced through October 2025, and the sector's highest January-to-October total since at least 2012.

Technology announced 5,576 cuts in October, its lowest monthly total of the year, yet the sector still leads all industries for 2026 with 171,501 cuts — up 21% from a year earlier, already above the 154,445 it announced in all of 2025, and 28% of every cut announced this year. Transportation has announced the second-most cuts of any industry this year, 44,838, up 188% from the 15,544 announced through October 2025 and the sector's highest January-to-October total since 2020. Services announced 5,458 cuts in October, FinTech 4,173 — bringing its year-to-date total to 11,979, up 543% — and consumer products companies 3,672.

California led the states; the West accounted for nearly half of October's cuts

California led all states in October with 10,032 announced job cuts, down 29% from the 14,206 announced in October 2025. California employers have announced 124,850 cuts so far this year — 20% of the national total — down 21% from a year earlier. Washington followed with 7,233 cuts in October and 59,546 for the year, New York announced 4,671, Ohio 4,592 and Michigan 2,937. By region, the West accounted for 20,227 of October's cuts, or 46% of the total, followed by the East with 9,794, the Midwest with 9,668 and the South with 4,305.

For readers in diaspora-heavy states, the year-to-date state picture is mixed: Texas is essentially flat at 46,528 announced cuts against 46,352 a year earlier, Georgia is down 46% to 42,435, New York is down 54% to 37,378 and New Jersey is down 52% to 31,022, while Michigan is up 89% to 36,564 and Tennessee up 68% to 19,446. Across all four regions, cuts are down year to date — the East is down 75%, helped by a 96% drop in the District of Columbia, where federal workforce reductions drove last year's total.

The other half of the report: a record October for hiring plans — almost all of it seasonal

Employers announced plans to hire 444,692 workers in October, up 57% from the 283,138 plans announced in October 2025 and the highest October total Challenger has recorded since at least 2009. For the year so far, companies have announced 655,304 hiring plans, up 34% from a year earlier. But the composition matters more than the headline: seasonal positions account for 72% of all hiring plans announced in 2026.

Amazon led the seasonal announcements with plans to hire 300,000 workers — 50,000 more than the 250,000 it announced in each of the previous three years, and the largest single seasonal hiring announcement Challenger has ever tracked. UPS announced 100,000 seasonal hires after making no announcement last year. Challenger counts Amazon in its technology sector, so Amazon's warehouse and fulfilment hiring accounts for nearly all of the 300,252 technology hiring plans recorded in October; transportation recorded 100,000 hiring plans and retail 13,300. In total, employers have announced 470,400 seasonal hiring plans through October, up 26% from last year — though still below the 660,150 announced in 2024, and concentrated among just five companies, compared with eleven at this point last year.

Retail tells the two-sided story in one sector: retailers announced 3,692 job cuts in October, the most for the sector since June 2025, at the same time as they announced 13,300 hiring plans. "Retailers cutting jobs at the same time they are staffing up for the holidays tells you where the pressure is. Companies are trimming permanent roles and leaning on seasonal workers to cover the busiest weeks of the year," Challenger said. Retail's year-to-date cuts stand at 18,126, down 80% from a year earlier.

Why this matters for Punjabi and diaspora workers — and for truckers

For the large Punjabi and wider South Asian workforce in warehousing, fulfilment, retail and trucking across California, Washington, New Jersey, Texas and other states, the report cuts both ways. The immediate opportunity is real and time-limited: the Amazon and UPS seasonal waves are the largest in years, and they are concentrated in exactly the warehouse, driving and delivery jobs many diaspora workers already hold. The caution is in the structure: because nearly three-quarters of this year's announced hiring is seasonal, those roles carry an end date after the holidays, and the transportation sector — home to many Punjabi truckers and fleet owners — has announced 44,838 cuts this year, up 188%, even as carriers hire seasonally for peak freight.

Challenger also noted that the timing of seasonal hiring has shifted later: September brought only 90,787 announced hiring plans, the lowest September total since 2011, and the two biggest seasonal announcements arrived in October instead. "Seasonal employers are staggering their announcements and waiting longer to see how the season shakes out before they commit to numbers. They are not cutting deeply, but they are not committing to permanent headcount, either. Seasonal roles give companies the capacity they need for the holidays with an end date built in," Challenger said.

What happens next

Challenger's figures count announcements, not completed layoffs or hires, and they are not the official government count. The next official read arrives Friday, November 6, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the October Employment Situation report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern; a Reuters survey of economists expects nonfarm payrolls to have risen by about 65,000 in October after a 29,000 gain in September, with the unemployment rate expected to hold at 4.2% and annual wage growth expected to slow to 2.9% — which would be the first reading below 3% in nearly five and a half years. The October consumer inflation report follows next Tuesday, ahead of the Federal Reserve's December 9 decision.

Source: Reuters via SRN News