It’s more grim data to start the year.
The Challenger, Gray, and Christmas jobs report for January kicks off 2026 with a miserable report.
U.S.-based employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January, an increase of 118% from the 49,795 cuts announced in the same month last year. It is up 205% from the 35,553 job cuts announced in December.
January’s total is the highest for the month since 2009, when 241,749 job cuts were announced. It is the highest monthly total since October 2025, when 153,074 cuts were recorded.
“Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in the first quarter, but this is a high total for January. It means most of these plans were set at the end of 2025, signaling employers are less-than-optimistic about the outlook for 2026,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Which Industries Cut the Most Jobs?
- Transportation: Transportation announced the highest number of job cuts in January with 31,243, primarily due to an announcement from UPS. The company announced it would cut 30,000 jobs after severing ties with Amazon.
- Technology: Technology announced 22,291 job cuts in January. The bulk of these came from Amazon, which announced 16,000 job cuts as it restructures its layers of management.
- Healthcare/Products: Healthcare companies and health products manufacturers, including Hospitals, announced 17,107 job cuts in January, the most for the industry since April 2020, when 19,453 job cuts were recorded. “Healthcare providers and hospital systems are grappling with inflation and high labor costs. Lower reimbursements from Medicaid and Medicare are also hitting hospital systems.
- Chemical: Chemical manufacturers announced 4,701 job cuts in January, primarily from one announcement by Dow Inc., which cited a shift to implementing artificial intelligence and automation. This is the highest monthly total for this sector since February 2016, when 6,640 job cuts were recorded. That month, the cuts were primarily due to a merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont.
- Media & News Cuts: The Media industry has announced 510 cuts in January, down 18% from the 624 cuts announced in January 2024. News, which Challenger tracks as a subset of Media and includes broadcast, digital, and print, has announced 65 job cuts in January, a 66% decrease from the 192 News cuts announced in the same month in 2025. It is the lowest January total since 2022, when no News cuts were recorded.
Hiring Plans
- Last month, employers announced 5,306 hiring plans, the lowest total for the month since Challenger began tracking hiring plans in 2009.
- Prior to last month’s total, 2023 saw the lowest January total for hiring with 5,376. It is down 13% from the 6,089 hiring plans announced in the same month last year.
- It is down 49% from the 10,496 hiring plans announced in December 2025.
Perhaps one can dismiss the cuts due to extreme concentration at a few industries. But there is no excuse for the lack of hires to the lowest in history.
Regarding Media Cuts
Yesterday, CNBC reported Washington Post begins widespread layoffs, sharply shrinking storied newspaper’s reach
The Washington Post began widespread layoffs on Wednesday that will drastically shrink the size of the storied newspaper, affecting all departments, according to a recording of the call shared with Reuters.
Executive Editor Matt Murray informed the staff of the cuts, which will cut across the international, editing, metro, and sports desks, and come just days after the more than 145-year-old newspaper scaled back its coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics amid mounting financial losses.
“For too long, we’ve operated with a structure that’s too rooted in the days when we were a quasi-monopoly local newspaper,” Murray said on the call, adding that “we need a new way forward and a sounder foundation.”
One Post reporter, speaking on condition of anonymity, called it a “bloodbath.”
The Washington Post last year made changes across several business functions and announced job cuts, saying then that the reductions would not impact its newsroom. The newspaper, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, had offered voluntary separation packages to employees across all functions in 2023 amid losses of $100 million.
Bezos Orders Deep Job Cuts at ‘Washington Post’
Also consider Bezos Orders Deep Job Cuts at ‘Washington Post’
In a newsroom Zoom call, Executive Editor Matt Murray called the move “a strategic reset” it needs to compete in the era of artificial intelligence. The paper had not evolved with the times, he said, and the changes were overdue in light of “difficult and even disappointing realities.”
Murray said the Post will shutter its sports desk, while keeping some sports reporters who will write feature stories. It will likewise close its Books section and suspend the signature podcast Post Reports.
The international desk will shrink dramatically. Among those laid off: the paper’s Ukraine bureau chief and correspondent, the latter of whom was in a war zone.
The paper’s entire Middle East desk was let go, according to their social media posts. So too was Caroline O’Donovan, the reporter who covers Amazon — the primary source of Bezos’ wealth.
“This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations,” former Executive Editor Marty Baron said in a statement Wednesday.
While acknowledging that the media industry as a whole is struggling, Baron blamed Bezos for exacerbating the newspaper’s woes through “ill-conceived decisions,” including killing an endorsement in fall 2024 of Kamala Harris for president. That choice, which Bezos took responsibility for, led hundreds of thousands of subscribers to cancel their subscriptions.
It reaped rewards from readers too, exceeding 3 million paying subscribers. It is now far below that level, according to a person at the paper with knowledge. (The person spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fears of being fired for speaking to the press.)
The New York Times reports the Washington Post laid off “30 percent of all its employees. That includes people on the business side and more than 300 of the roughly 800 journalists in the newsroom.”
Based on the above, WaPo layoffs are between 300 and 400. Those layoffs will show up in Challenger next month.
These Challenger and other job cuts are happening despite a GDPNow 4.2 percent GDP nowcast for the fourth quarter of 2025.
GDP for the the first quarter of 2026 rates to be interesting. Job weakness is nearly everywhere.
Related Posts
January 27, 2026: Trump Cheers a Plunge of the US Dollar “I Think It’s Great”
“Look at all the business we are doing,” says Trump.
A plunge in the US dollar makes imports more expensive. That is on top of tariff already destroying many businesses.
February 2, 2026: The Fed Has Two Huge Problems Starting Now, Acyclical Inflation and Jobs
The Fed is not in a good spot.
February 4, 2026: Will a Sugar High of Huge Tax Refunds in April Stoke Inflation?
The Tax Foundation estimates refunds will be $748 more per household, on average, compared to last year.
February 4, 2026: ADP Payrolls Weak Again, Small Employers with 20-49 Employees Hit Hard
Witness the destruction of businesses with 20-49 employees.
February 4, 2026: Manufacturing Recovery? ADP Says Manufacturing Jobs Down 22 Straight Months
There is no manufacturing recovery.
February 5, 2026: Initial Unemployment Claims Surge, Rattling Stocks, Helping Bonds
Initial claims unexpectedly spiked to 231,000.


That the most useless sector, financial, tails that list says everything about the state of the Usonian economy.
Amazon job cuts in their management restructuring are probably only the beginning, but the job losses at UPS due to their Amazon contract termination is likely just a similar number of employees working for a different employer delivering a similar number of parcels. One factor might be UPS being a union shop with potentially higher labor costs than Amazon doing it on their own.
Overall, it does not look like a booming economy.
Trump’s approval rating on the economy now stands at 36%.
This was his major advantage heading into 2024.
Most people now say the economy was better under Biden.
Sorry to hear about layoffs at the Washington Post. When I worked at BLS, I’d read the paper every morning. Without the Post it would have been hard to fill the time.
Nobody worked hard at BLS?
Rent now, pay later. It’s a new option for renters who are struggling to make the monthly payment. Companies are letting users break up their rent sums into multiple payments throughout the month.
According to ChatGPT online poker will be destroyed by AI. Live poker will continue to thrive with AI’s participation being almost exclusively in player training.
On a side note Chat GPT when queried about different Omaha 8 hands made several mistakes in basic play. It did acknowledge the mistakes when pointed out and admitted it could understand how I thought it had a very poor understanding of the simplest action decisions in Omaha 8. I hope ChatGPT trains all my poker opponents.
We are finally witnessing the full effects of the Birdbrain Biden regime economic hangover. Also the trucking recession started about a couple of years ago.
Ninja level mental acrobatics.
The power of denial cannot be understated.
If we are going to go down that path we might as well start blaming Obama, Clinton or maybe even JFK for the current economic downturn.
President Lincoln need to take ownership of this cluster*ck.
The buck really stops with King George, actually.
Well at least if you stayed loyal colonialists you would have free health care. Other than the the upsides are limited and the downsides plenty.
Finally. That took forever. It even took another president’s tariffs and chaos to make it arrive.
Fortunately, despite all the layoffs and uncertainty, we are experiencing the most ‘A++++++ economy’ ever, of all time, people are saying, sir, with tears in their eyes….
Hey did you see the clip where Biden shat Trump’s pants?
Is the GDP also Bidens?
AI was behind over 50,000 layoffs in 2025 — here are the top firms to cite it for job cuts
Published Sun, Dec 21 2025
Sawdah Bhaimiya
Key Points
• Artificial intelligence was responsible for almost 55,000 layoffs in the U.S. in 2025, per consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
• Major firms including Amazon and Salesforce cut thousands of roles and cited AI as a factor.
• Overall job cuts topped 1 million in 2025, the highest level since 2020, per Challenger.
…
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/21/ai-job-cuts-amazon-microsoft-and-more-cite-ai-for-2025-layoffs.html
I’m curious how revenue has trended in those companies that explained away their massive layoffs by AI…
No wonder taco continues to “crow” about the best economy ever under his reign of terror.
Regarding WaPo, this seems like a planned demolition. Bezos bought up the legacy property for chump change, he interfered with the editorial policy, forcing a right wing viewpoint that its core readership despises, and now that the changes failed, he’s destroying it. Either way Bezos wins, destroying the WaPo to curry favor with Trump and protect the Billionaire class. I predict the same fate for CBS once David Ellison and Bari Weiss are done with it.
“Right wing viewpoint” meaning ultra Zionist viewpoint.
Um well the “Zionist Socialist Party” renamed itself as the Israeli Labor Party. Golda Meir use to lead the Zionist Socialists.
Washington Post always sucked regardless that it is left wing. I am glad it is going to the news media graveyard.
basically the Newspaper is a defunct idea now like a CD or a record. News and Music available instantly for free basically.
And will continue to worsen as AI takes over more work from humans. Most won’t pay attention but then one day, they will open their eyes and see that unemployment is suddenly north of 30%.
Which reminds me of the famous Hemingway quote about how he went bankrupt “Gradually and then suddenly”!
Doubt it. As the Boomers keep aging out of the workforce, there will be more and more “tasks” that someone still needs to have done. What will probably happen is more people shifting (by force) from white collar work to service/blue collar work (work that potentially, but almost surely pays less). It could be a deflationary environment without the high unemployment we used to see in the 70’s and 80’s.
Blue-collar jobs are not safe from AI!
I want to see an AI wipe an oldster’s butt and clean out his/her rain gutters.
Got 3 years to wait? If that.
We can’t wait three years.
If he doesn’t get Impeached and convicted in three months we are finished.
Here’s something for humans to do in the new AI economy, work for AI!
That actually confirms my thesis about still needing humans to wipe butts and clean out rain gutters and fix grandma’s bathroom cabinet.
Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo Covers Up Trump’s Awful January Jobs Report
This is state-sponsored TV protecting Trumps negligence.
Net non farm jobs created by President from BLS.
Bush 2001-2009, -0.5 million
Obama 2009-2017, +11.6 million
Trump 2017-2021, -2.7 million
Biden, 2021-2025, +14.8 million
Trump, 2025-2026, +0.9 million and likely headed much lower
If you voted for Trump, you should know what you were going to get.
i despise the brutality of trump’s ICE………but let’s also reflect that lower prices for things like r/e and farm land and energy…….is good for the young generation coming up. didn’t the first time home buyer median age move up to about 40 last year. that blows for all the young adults and the teenagers today who should be able to buy a house when they are in their mid twenties if they want. imho
You are more of an optimist than I am.
Cheers!
I don’t think that recessions are good. Maybe necessary, yes, but not great for people who graduate during them.
Data shows that people who come of age during economic dislocations struggle to recover financially for their whole lives.
Recessions would be almost “unnecessary” nowadays if the Fed (and DC) didn’t love blowing bubbles so much. The fact that the last two credit cycles/recessions (2015 and 2019) got papered over means that we are almost certainly overdue for a particularly nasty one.
Biden’s numbers are pure nonsense, they are counting all of the people who returned to work after the self-inflicted scamdemic lockdowns. That whole period should be x-ed out of every dataset, and most analysts do just that. The sad thing is that as time goes by, there will be more and more dopes out there who keep those numbers in. I am not defending Trump one bit, just pointing out the idiocy in regurgitating false data like that. At the very least use an asterisk and a footnote “Papa”.
Those are “net” jobs. So, yes, Biden gets the credit, because the government put lots of money into keeping people employed during the pandemic.
PPP and ERC were two of many programs.
To include any direct government-stimulus supported jobs in a dataset that involves nothing but jobs created in “normal” periods is disingenuous at best and retarded/deceitful at worst.
Trump was president during the pandemic
After the recent News on this site and others, I am running out of thoughts and ideas of how to see this Country’s current state of affairs, and left with this thought: I’m Pissed Off!
Are they truly all in bed together, just playing along, as if it’s a Game. Moving the pieces around as necessary, to keep the illusion alive?
Sucking groups in one by one, as they deliver well for many, slowly and one at a time? Sending consistent messages together, whenever a logically unable to challenge idea comes along for them both.
One Party puts people away from the other side, and then that side puts people away from the other side. WTF? How does that do anything but keep the illusions alive that they are there for whichever side you stand for. You cannot dispute it, because they just proved it to you, or in theory anyway, as an exercise in Control for Both Sides.
I voted for Trump, but not this, and He didn’t run on this. I voted for what He ran on, and He has delivered in some areas very well. Overall however, if this is the best we are going to see, then I have No Party left to stand behind, as they both take away, under the guise of giving. The Robin Hood theory, and they do it well. Just keep changing up the Profiteers. One year Farms Win Out, next the Bankers, and then the Welfare, and the next year it’s the Kids and Daycare, and then College Loans, etc. it just goes on and on… but the results never change, no matter the Party!! One side Always Losses!! We Never ALL Win?
I’m Really Pissed Off!!!
You’re old enough to have learned to never trust anything a politician says or promises that they will do.
While true, the sell job was brilliant, and made to seem plausible. The timing was perfect, we just had a gum ball in office, and shit was heading down hill fast with the open borders and internal crime being absolutely out of control. To be honest, Trump spoke the best, showed what seemed plausible, and hit all the right buttons, I fell for it! That doesn’t mean however, that I wish I voted Democrat, after seeing what they have done and continue to do. That’s why I am so pissed off, as I have No Party to vote for at this point. I have always voted, but now wonder is it even necessary, as most things are determined before the election even takes place it appears…
Hey, Stu, I appreciate your comment a lot. I voted straight Republican tickets for years, but for the past 3 presidential I’ve had to go down ballot.
I no longer have an ideological home in a major political party.
TY! It is very disheartening…
I remember when Reagan said “I’ll get the government off your back” or words to that effect. I naively thought he was talking to everyday Americans like myself. After I voted for him and he was elected his actions showed he didn’t mean the public, he was talking to American corporations. Most of his deregulation did harm to the consumer but his rich corporate friends were thrilled. That was the last time I voted for a Republican and will never again.
The Republicans normally have one agenda. Tax cuts for friends, and maybe a small one for average Joe, and defense spending for beltway bandits. You can add Israel to that mix under Trump. All the rest is hot air. This is democracy in action, reward friends who keep you in power and bs the majority with cute sound bites.
I appreciate the honesty, and wish I thought enough about the Dems to do so myself. I can’t get past the crap they have pulled over the past few months.
Now without trust in either party, and who can at this point, I guess I will be a no vote, or vote for a write in of somebody I would pick, that’s not running yet, but hopefully may? Our Politicians are well past the ridiculous stage of Managing Our Country!
Wake up!
Nothing you say there is particularly new in the world of politics and government going back hundreds and even thousands of years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses
Trump is just an extreme example of somebody who has lied, bullied, and stoked hatred to get his way to the top and continues to do so. History has many similar notable politicians.
“shit was heading down hill fast with the open borders and internal crime being absolutely out of control”
No it wasn’t. They only real reasons to believe that is if you swallow the lies from Trump or the cult.
I’m not defending the previous “gumball” as you referred to him as. But useless idiot who didn’t really do much less damaging than a lying idiot who destroys everything he touches to enrich and promote himself.
Biden sowed the seeds of rampant inflation, which was probably the #1 issue to cause Trump an opening in 2024.
Border was probably #2.
Evident dementia during debate was #3, IMHO.
Agreed!
Based upon the current affairs, and the lame duck we had in office sleeping, while others ran the Country with a Fu@#&* Auto Pen, I had no choice but to believe anything, but what I was witnessing. I felt we needed definitive change, and in some ways I was right about that, and we got some of that thankfully. Im not happy now, but I was after the election. So I guess some happiness Vs. Zero with the same party in place, doing the same damn things all over again…
in my old neighborhood in heart of historic downtown phoenix, AZ, 100 years old crafstman bungalows……..for probably 3 square miles, the property drop from peak of 2005 to 2012 was about 75%. one third of my block, lost their homes to foreclosure and short sales…….by the end of the debacle, there were single and two and 4 family houses with cap rates at 20%. every storm has a silver lining. it was ugly and sad to see so many folks hurting. i was elected onto my local community board during this. i think, today’s problems are much worse, coast to coast, domestically and our world wide belligerent military presence for sure is a really heavy anchor on this sinking ship………my prediction for almost a decade has been we are going to effectively have a 50 state solution. we will still have a potus and congress and scotus. just very weakened back to pre 1860 set up. i do NOT think i’m wrong. i’ll be content and happy if this happens and i have a few steak dinners to collect.
The south shall rise again.
I guess we are great again, finally. Congrats to all Trump voters.
Trump did it!!!!
Not All… I didn’t Vote for this!
Trump delivered on everything he promised. Nothing he did should have surprised anyone. It was all spelled out on Project 2025.
If you “did not vote for this” is because you were willingly deluding yourself and were not willing to listen to the warnings.
I followed that, as I never vote blindly. Trump spoke at the Heritage Foundation, and was then tied to the program you refer to.
He immediately denounced the program as ridiculous and not worthy of further discussion. Again however, it was tied to him erroneously through innuendos and possibilities. He has never endorsed it on any level.
He LITERALLY followed Project 2025 to the letter.
You chose to believe on the guy who said Mexico was going to pay for the wall. The guy who said that trade wars were good and easy to win. The guy who said that tariffs were his favorite word. The guy who constantly tried to meddle with the Monetary policy. The guy who said that Haitians were eating cats and dogs. The guy who bragged about grabbing women by the pussy. The guy who was buddies with Epstein. The guy who had Stephen Miller and Peter Navarro on his cabinet even back on his first term. The guy who incited Jan 6. The guy who in his first term ordered the Secretary of Defense to command the Army to shoot protesters on the knee.
It was all there open and plain for all to see since 2016.
Now you are pissed?
It is all on you buddy.
– He LITERALLY followed Project 2025 to the letter. > Not even close, and you know that! He was tied to it by innuendos and crap, and had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was all made up, like a lot of BS about Politicians these days. Nothing new to see here, but BS from one party about another party. It’s called “Dirty Politics” and the Democrats have the ownership 100% of that moniker!!
– You chose to believe on the guy who said Mexico was going to pay for the wall. > I didn’t believe anything, except the border would be closed and it was. Something I elected Him for!
– The guy who said that trade wars were good and easy to win. > I took Him at his word and what His Cabinet told Him would work. They were wrong, and He was wrong as a result. He is NOT in charge of such things, as the outcome is not of His making. He is at least trying to do some good, and that’s enlightening when compared to the last Mush Brain in office, that couldn’t even speak coherently, crapes his pants, and saw rainbows and unicorns most days…
– The guy who said that tariffs were his favorite word. Who are You and I to doubt what is His Favorite anything? His opinion, so be it. You have plenty yourself, do you care to break them all down for us, so we can see what you really meant to say?
– The guy who constantly tried to meddle with the Monetary policy. > Every President does this.
– The guy who said that Haitians were eating cats and dogs. Some did and it was caught on film, so it’s a true story unfortunately…
-The guy who bragged about grabbing women by the pussy. Have you ever done so? Have others that you know ever done so? Do all Politicians do so? Do Rockstars and Athletes do so? Who doesn’t? Who does? Did you see it happen? Was it bragging like He can be known for perhaps? You have no clue!
– The guy who was buddies with Epstein. He hated the Man and booted him off of His Property, a Fact you ignore. He had nothing to do with this sorted mess, but a whole lot of Democrats have PROOF THEY DID!!! Hmm…
– The guy who had Stephen Miller and Peter Navarro on his cabinet even back on his first term. > So What, He is NOT them?
– The guy who incited Jan 6. The guy who in his first term ordered the Secretary of Defense to command the Army to shoot protesters on the knee.
> That’s an outright Lie, unless you wish to ignore the Proof it is, or are you just refusing to see it in its entirety, because YOU So Want to BELIEVE IT?
– It was all there open and plain for all to see since 2016. Now you are pissed? > For me and Millions upon Millions More it clearly wasn’t. You did actually SEE The Election Results, or did you Hide Under The Blanket like a lot of people did…
Hate to tell you this, Stu, but Trump was lying to the Heritage foundation.
I feel for ya, but man, doesn’t seem like you were paying attention, for years at a time.
You may be right, and I need to go back and review that, because I don’t recall it going down that way. I did jump off of that quickly, because I thought it was ridiculous. My bad if I jumped off of it too early, and that’s on Me…
So I spent a little more than an hour reviewing the 2025 plan so to speak. I found much of it to be aligned with a conservative agenda.
I also found references in regard to energy and resource usage, even with what we have to have to exist freely today and in the near future (Unleash American Energy). Can’t say I disagree with much of that, which I did read, but not entirely in-depth yet.
Other than strong feelings toward energy, and even some off the wall things that were thrown in, not sure why, a disagreement and perhaps strongly towards Conservative views, but yet they dislike Trump for doing what He Was Elected To Do? A Conservative oddly enough as well. Is this a one sided slant towards non-conservatives, but aimed at Them specifically?
I had to stop and return to Golf. I am getting ready to start swing the clubs soon…
I just read up on a bunch of stuff, and added what I thought. Sort of discouraging, or perhaps a bad set of articles I went through?
Yeah yah did dummy. Will you learn anything from it?
Nah.
You’re already making excuses and insisting that there weren’t plenty of warning signs. That’s why you’re dumb, not because you made a mistake, but because you can’t even take a lesson from it.
I have admitted to my mistake, and learned from it, as I will not vote again, until a NEW Person comes into the mix, and I don’t care which party. I will ONLY VOTE for NEW PEOPLE. Enough with these idiots we have in power. If you’re NEW and running against a Current person in office, My VOTE Is For YOU!!!
Trump’s economic cancer is spreading fast. The patient is terminal, no amount of radiation or chemo is going to fix this mess. Sad.
All I can do is position for profit. Puts and oil stocks to the moon!
You can do a lot more. This life is certainly more than about yourself.
The market sure cares nothing about this cancer that is “spreading fast”. Literally everything but bitcoin is at or very near all time highs, and even bitcoin is bouncing at a rate of 11k a day.