By Harriet Torry

Employers said they cut more than a million jobs so far this year, a sharp rise in job losses compared with the same period last year, according to a new report released Thursday morning.

The report, from consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, tracks job losses each month. Investors and policymakers are relying heavily on data from private sources since government data that tracks jobs is on hold during the government shutdown.

Through October, employers reported slashing 1,099,500 jobs, an increase of 65% from the first 10 months of last year. That is up 44% from the 761,358 cuts announced in all of 2024.

In October alone, U.S. companies' job-cut announcements nearly tripled to 153,074 from 54,064 in September, with companies citing cost-cutting and artificial intelligence, the firm said. The warehousing sector led the increase in job-cutting announcements, slashing nearly 48,000 roles, while tech companies said they were eliminating more than 33,000 jobs.

"Some industries are correcting after the hiring boom of the pandemic, but this comes as AI adoption, softening consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs drive belt-tightening and hiring freezes," Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray and Christmas, said in a statement.

The news comes a day after payroll processor ADP said the U.S. added 42,000 private-sector jobs in October, a rebound after two straight months of declines.

The government shutdown has paused the usual stream of official economic-data releases, meaning economists and investors are increasingly focused on alternative sources of data on hiring and job cuts from private companies.

Write to Harriet Torry at harriet.torry@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 06, 2025 08:42 ET (13:42 GMT)

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