Unemployment lines across the U.S. became much longer in February, with American employers announcing 172,017 job cuts for the month. That’s the highest total for the month since 2009, when 186,350 job cuts were recorded.
It is also the highest monthly total since July 2020, when 262,649 cuts were announced, according to a new report from global outplacement and business/executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
“Private companies announced plans to shed thousands of jobs last month, particularly in retail and technology,” said Andrew Challenger, SVP and workplace expert for CG&C. “With the impact of the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] actions, as well as canceled government contracts, fear of trade wars and bankruptcies, job cuts soared in February.”
Which industries are cutting the most? The government led all sectors in job reductions in February. Challenger tracked 62,242 announced job cuts by the federal government from 17 different agencies last month. So far this year, the government has cut 62,530, an increase of 41,311% from the 151 cuts announced through February 2024.
“It appears the [Trump] administration wants to cut even more workers, but an order to fire the roughly 200,000 probationary employees was blocked by a federal judge. It remains to be seen how many more workers will lose their federal government roles,” said Challenger. “When mass layoffs occur, it often leaves remaining staff feeling uneasy and uncertain. The likelihood that many more workers leave voluntarily is high,” he added.
The other two sectors to shed the most jobs are retail and technology. Some specifics for each:
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- Retailers weighed in with 38,956 job cut plans in February for a total of 45,375 for the year so far. That’s a 572% increase from the 6,751 retail job cuts announced in the first two months of 2024.
- Technology companies announced 14,554 job cuts in February for a total of 22,042 cuts in 2025. This is down 22% from the 28,218 cuts announced during the same period last year.
Why are companies cutting? Challenger points to five major factors: “DOGE impact” leads the way, as the source of 63,583 layoffs, followed by market/economic conditions (36,257 cuts); bankruptcy (35,411) and store unit/plant closings (28,095).
Still, some hiring is also taking place, with companies announcing plans to increase their payrolls in February by 34,580 Workers. So far this year, companies plan to hire 40,669 workers, an increase of 159% from the 15,693 hiring plans announced during the same period last year. This is the highest number for February since 2022, when companies announced 215,127 new hires.
So far in 2025, the most active sectors are entertainment/leisure plans (hiring 28,000 new workers), automotive (4,831) and tech (3,225) so far in 2025.
Click here for more from the Challenger, Gray & Christmas report.
