In the United States, layoffs exceeded 100,000 in January, the highest monthly figure since 2009 and a 118% year-over-year increase, according to a report from a consulting firm specializing in employment. This January, cuts reached 108,435 jobs, an increase of 118% (more than double) compared to January 2025 and 205% from the previous month, becoming the highest figure since January 2009, according to an report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The more than 108,000 cuts are the second-highest number of layoffs in the U.S. labor market in January since January 2009, when they exceeded 240,000 cuts. Technology companies also announced major cuts: 22,291 layoffs, of which about 16,000 came from Amazon, which is restructuring its management layers. In the transportation sector, more than 30,000 layoffs were announced, mostly from UPS, which broke ties with Amazon. Of the total January layoffs, artificial intelligence (AI) was cited as the main reason in 7% of the cuts, representing 7,624 jobs. Since 2023, when the firm Challenger began tracking layoffs related to AI, nearly 80,000 jobs have been counted due to the rise of AI in the U.S. labor market. This is the third peak in layoffs in the U.S. in the last 36 months, according to the report. "Typically, we see a large number of layoffs in the first quarter, but this is a very high number for January. It means that most of these plans were made at the end of 2025, indicating that employers are not very optimistic about the outlook for 2026," said Andy Challenger, revenue director at Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
