Government spending cuts and economic uncertainty are helping push employers to lay off ꦏworkers at the fastest pace since the ℱpandemic. 

U.S.-based employers have announced 696,309 job cuts so far this year, according to the monthly report from business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. It’s the highest level of job cuts since pandemic-driven layoffs left more than 1.4 million people out of work during the first five months of 2020.

Announced layoffs in May were actually lower than April levels, which were driven by 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:D🌄epartment of Gove🅘rnment Efficiency (DOGE) cuts, but were 47% higher than the job cuts announced in Maܫy 2024.

“Tariffs, funding cuts, consumer spending, and overall 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:economic pessimism are putting intense pressure on companies’ workforces. Companies are spending less, slowing hiring, and sending la༺yoff notices,” said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

However, DOGE accounted for over a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:third of the layoffs through direct reductions in federal government🌄 staff🎃 and funding or the “downstream impact” of organizations cutting jobs because they lost government money.

The report tracks published ann﷽ouncements of job cuts and reflects a string of major companies that have recently reported layoffs.

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Procter & Gamble (PG) was the latest company to announce layoffs, with a company executive revealing this week that the conglomerate planned to cut 7,000 non-manufacturing jobs over the next two years. Other recent layoff announcements have come from 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Microsoft (MSFT), 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Morgan Stanley (MS), Walmart (WMT) and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:CrowdStrike (CRWD).

Because it only tracks published reports, most economists, analysts, and investors don't follow it closely. Many will look to Friday's official government jobs report for a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:more comprehensive measure of the labor♏ m꧅arket, as 💜it gathers information directly from businesses and workers.