Posted on 02/01/2024 5:33:23 PM PST by Libloather
The pace of job cuts by U.S. employers accelerated at the start of 2024, a sign the labor market is starting to deteriorate in the face of ongoing inflation and high interest rates.
That is according to a new report published by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which found that companies planned 82,307 job cuts in January, a substantial 136% increase from the previous month. However, that is down about 20% from the same time one year ago. It marked the second-highest layoff total for the month of January in data going back to 2009.
"Waves of layoff announcements hit U.S.-based companies in January after a quiet fourth quarter," said Andy Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The cuts were "driven by broader economic trends and a strategic shift towards increased automation and AI adoption in various sectors, though in most cases, companies point to cost-cutting as the main driver for layoffs."
Financial companies bore the brunt of the job losses in January, with the industry shedding 23,238 employees. That is the highest monthly layoff total for the financial sector since September 2018, when it announced 27,343 job cuts.
The technology sector followed with 15,806 layoffs, the most since May 2023 and a stunning 254% increase from just one month prior.
"The impact of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence adoption is beginning to be felt from a jobs perspective, particularly in media and tech, but truly across sectors," Challenger said. "That said, companies are not outright blaming AI for many layoff decisions."
Food production companies also accounted for a large swath of the job cuts in January, slashing 6,656 positions — the highest monthly total for the sector since November 2012. Challenger said that "high costs and advancing automation" are reshaping how the industry operates.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
Obviously Trump's fault and Brandonomics is fixing all that.
That should cause the stock markets to spike upward! :eyeroll:
This is really tiny - the labor market has 165 million jobs. Furthermore, these highly skilled workers will quickly find another job.
Trump stupidly claimed the stock market increases were his. He walked right into that one.
As Brad Sherman (D-CT) says, “We rolled them again!” Courtesy of the Stupid Party.
Actually it does. Workforce reductions are good news to investors. Stock price usually bounces up at the announcement.
Ironclad proof Bidenomics is working as planned.
“The impact of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence adoption is beginning to be felt from a jobs perspective, particularly in media and tech, but truly across sectors,” Challenger said. “That said, companies are not outright blaming AI for many layoff decisions.”
‘Cuz if they DID, AI could EASILY snuff them out. ;)
As a contractor maybe, but as FTE not so much anymore.
“Courtesy of the Stupid Party”
************
Its the weak, unprincipled and stupid party. It stands for nothing and falls for everything. Basically a fake party.
It’s not a recession.
We passed That with the Covid hoax. All you need to do is ride around any fair sized city and look at the homeless to understand what a democratic depression looks like.
The number is worse than this.
Let’s hope Joek gets laid off this year.
“these highly skilled workers will quickly find another job”
Highly skilled at what? The same skills that other companies are laying off? Yes at least in Kalifornia they can land $20 burger flipping jobs.
All these folks without jobs or income this year should be thankful Joe tamed inflation and made things affordable for you.
If you are a programmer working at a tech company, you may have to take a job at a non-tech company, at a lower salary. From a hot new application at Google to data analytics at Walmart, well, it’s a job.
Sheesh! BIDEN IS POTUS. We are not as stupid as you are hateful, moron.
Nothing stupid about it. The stock market IS going up. Trump explained WHY it’s going up. Real wages and jobs, on the other hand, are going down.
Sounds like the Creative Writing majors working at BLS will be called on to put on their best performance to make January results look good. Time to earn that paycheck, folks!
Building back better, one Marxist at a time.
It’s called Creative Destruction and it’s always been part of the cycle.
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