Job Cuts - Statistics, Trends, and Timely Facts

Economic indicators are all around us. There’s the stock market, GDP growth rate, trade deficits, surpluses, inflation, and other measurable factors that define the state of a country’s economy. While some of these indicators might seem abstract to the average person, there’s one thing to which we can all relate: jobs.

Is the job market growing, or is it shrinking? Are more people finding work or filing for unemployment? Let's find out together.

Key Job Cuts Statistics for 2025 - Editor’s Choice

• There were 5.5% more job cuts in the US in 2024.
• California saw 157,012 job cuts in 2024, the most of any state.
• The media industry layoffs decreased by 30% in 2024.
• AI and automation will drive 32% of job cuts in 2025.
• The banking industry is expected to cut 200,000 jobs by 2030.

Job cuts in the United States increased by 5.5% in 2024.

(Challenger, Gray & Christmas)

In total, there were 761,358 jobs cut last year, up from 721,677 in 2023.

The government sector layoffs increased by 1520.6% in 2024.

(Challenger, Gray & Christmas)

The reduction in armed service jobs led to a massive increase in layoffs last year, going from 2,368 in 2023 to 38,375 by the end of 2024.

45% of managers predict layoffs in 2025.

(ResumeTemplates)

The majority of companies expecting to cut job positions expect to cut less than 5% of their workforce, with 28% of managers claiming so.

AI and automation will drive 32% of job cuts in 2025.

(ResumeTemplates)

The artifical intelligence boom is highly impacting the job market, and will lead to an increasing number of layoffs this year.

Media and entertainment companies cut more than 15,000 jobs in 2024.

(eMarketer)

It was another bad year for Hollywood and media in general, and even though the number of layoffs was lower than 21,417 in 2023, the amount of cut jobs was still more than three times what it was in 2021.

150,000 jobs in the tech sector were cut in 2024.

(TechCrunch)

The sector continues to see high layoff rates, and the start of 2025 suggests that the trend will continue this year as well, with Meta already cutting 5% of its workforce in early January.

11% of game developers lost their jobs in 2024.

(Game Developers Conference)

This amounts to more than 13,000 employees, marking a horrible year for the industry.

Intel cut 15,000 jobs in 2024.

(BBC)

This was one of the most impactful events in the job market sector, as the company announced massive cuts after a disastrous business year.

93% of banking executives expect to cut 5-10% of jobs in the next few years.

(Bloomberg)

In total, it is expected that the banking industry will cut more than 200,000 jobs by 2030.

The East region of the US saw the largest increase in job cuts in 2024, growing by 15.8%.

(Challenger, Gray & Christmas)

There were 197,988 job cuts in the eastern US, but the western part of the country still leads in total job cuts, which grew to 332,369 last year.