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Job Cuts Jump 15% in March, Up 319% from Last Year, Highest Q1 Since 2020

April 6, 2023

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7:54 pm

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36 comments

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Economics

Challenger Job Report

Please consider the Challenger Job Cut Report for March 2023.

U.S.-based employers announced 89,703 cuts in March, up 15% from the 77,770 announced in February. It is up 319% from the 21,387 cuts announced in the same month in 2022, according to a report released Thursday from global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. March’s total marks the third time this year when cuts were higher than the corresponding month a year earlier.

Employers announced 270,416 cuts in the first quarter, a 396% increase from the 55,696 cuts announced in the same period one year prior. It is the highest first quarter total since 2020, when 346,683 cuts were announced January to March. It is the highest quarterly total since the third quarter of 2020 when 497,215 cuts were recorded.

Challenger Job Cuts by Quarter

This is the 7th highest first-quarter cuts in 35 years dating to 1989.

Challenger Job Cuts Top 5 Industries

Hello recession deniers. Please note the cuts are not just technology. Nor are the rest of the job cuts just goods-related.

Initial and Continued Unemployment Claims Jump the Most in 15 Months

Earlier today I reported Initial and Continued Unemployment Claims Jump the Most in 15 Months

Continued unemployment claims are the highest since November of 2021.
Initial claims are the highest since October of 2021

Job Openings Plunge From Dizzy Heights

Yesterday, I reported Job Openings Plunge From Dizzy Heights, How Much is Still Real?

Unexpected Weakness in Many Places

Weakness Not Just Goods- Related

While pondering an alleged 10 million openings, please note Unexpected Weakness in ISM Services, Backlog and New Orders Plunge

Hello “weakness is just in goods” proponents. Please note the 10-point plunge in new orders.

Also note the 18-point plunge in export services to severe contraction.

And while you are noticing things, check out the backlog in orders and then ponder what that means for hiring plans.

Other than this cornucopia of noticeable weakness and deteriorating conditions, rumor has it that everything is OK.

We cannot possibly be in recession because jobs are strong, until of course the revisions come home to roost.

This post originated on MishTalk.Com.

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36 Comments

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vanderlyn

3 years ago

i still ponder the definition of a recession. we are adding jobs. i don’t know a soul out of work. including my many pals in bay area tech. they get new jobs immediately. i live in a working class hood of immigrants. also i work on wall street. nobody i know looking for a job. also what is mish definition. if memory serves the BLS. which is GDP. which is hooey. so much government spending on that. it’s a ridiculous term, recession. we have soaring inflation. houses went up 40% nationwide in a few short years. that is tapering off. cost of currency is rising. compared to 2 years ago. big time. seems like stagflation at best. but smells like inflationary boom. not a good thing. but misery index of high inflation and high unemployment rate just not here. boomers croaking and retiring. the younger folks will have plenty of jobs for decades to come. us geezers need them to be our dentists and cooks and maids etc……..

8dots

3 years ago

Participation rate is rising. Fed assets are falling, taking a break, down 2,3%. More men are in the labor market. The Dow is Down only 9% despite Fed efforts. Wall street might send it to (-)20%, for fun and entertainment.

Thetenyear

3 years ago

As Mish said this is the 7th highest first-quarter cuts in 35 years. In each of the prior years the total cuts for the year exceeded 1,000,000. Also the run rate suggests cuts will exceed one million this year.

The last time there were over one million cuts in a year was 2009 and 2008. Prior to that was 2001-2005.

Lisa_Hooker

3 years ago

Reply to Thetenyear

It just might be Deja Vu – all over again.

oee

3 years ago

The econ created 236000 jobs in March. This would take 3-month total to 1,000,000 net new jobs in 3 months , and in what universe the econ is in recession and creates this number of jobs? Mavbe we need to replace doomsayes with AI. They would do a better job and be cheaper and no robots are not taken over no AI.

GruesomeHarvest

3 years ago

If only they would cut some jobs from government. Talking about a bad product that no one wants…

KidHorn

3 years ago

Reply to GruesomeHarvest

Of everything the government spends on, paying employees is one of the better things. At least they pay income taxes and spend in their communities. The money we send to Ukraine doesn’t help us in any way.

Zardoz

3 years ago

Reply to KidHorn

It enables the Ukrainians to kill Russians so we don’t have to do it ourselves.

jiminy

3 years ago

Reply to Zardoz

Why do we need to kill Russians? I read they have nuclear weapons, a most dangerous statement.

Lisa_Hooker

3 years ago

Reply to jiminy

It is an American tradition more than a century old.

Lisa_Hooker

3 years ago

Reply to KidHorn

Not so fast Kid.

What about all the great folks that work for Raytheon and Lockheed and BAE, etc., etc., etc….

They pay taxes and spend in their local communities.

And the taxes they pay are a lot more than the taxes the folks flipping burgers pay.

Note: I do like my burgers.

jiminy

3 years ago

Reply to GruesomeHarvest

Bill Clinton cut 250k from government. How many have the Republicans cut?

Doug78

3 years ago

The price of oil tells us what is going on. It had broken down then Opec had to make an almost historic cut to get it back up again which it did but now the price has stalled again. It gapped up then stalled. The underlying demand is weak and will get weaker.

Lisa_Hooker

3 years ago

Reply to Doug78

To top it off, Summer travel will not make up for Winter heating.

Casual_Observer2020

3 years ago

I can’t say why but after this past week I believe we are now fighting simultaneous wars against Russia and China. The battlefield is the 21st century varietal but it is a war nonetheless. The DoD gamed fighting two wars simultaneously and that is where we are now.

Christoball

3 years ago

So many young people are saying FU to jobs that Baby Boomers are thinking was a good idea to remove stickers from one shelf rack and replace them with other stickers just to save 3 cents a can on string beans.

KidHorn

3 years ago

Reply to Christoball

Where are stickers used instead of bar codes?

Anyone desperate enough to eat canned string beans gets my sympathy.

Lisa_Hooker

3 years ago

Reply to KidHorn

Tinned French cut green beans are OK for making that mushroom soup and fried onion thingy.

Christoball

3 years ago

Reply to KidHorn

The stickers on the shelves indicates the price for the customer. It has been this way for years since the introduction of the bar code. Canned string beans are an awesome food preservation method. 3 bean salad with canned beans is the culinary standard. Even my country club and yacht club friends agree.

Art Fully

3 years ago

JM Keynes was a proponent of attempting to reduce the marginal efficiency of capital to zero (as a result of capitalists being induced to make massive investments in the future). Our prolonged zero interest rate policy seems to have achieved that goal. Keynes never actually believed that it was possible to get to our current position. At the depths of the Depression, Keynes never thought he would need to explain how to deal with this situation The greyhounds have caught the artificial rabbit and are now discovering that they can’t eat it. Hence the layoffs.

MPO45v2

3 years ago

So let’s run the traps on the job cuts and the “recession” that is coming or here already.

The first people that are going to get let go are older workers so boomers can kiss their jobs goodbye since they are the most expense labor force for any company. GM just bought out 5000 to give everyone an idea.

https://www.greenwichtime.com/business/article/about-5k-gm-salaried-workers-take-buyouts-17878019.php

So in addition to the thousands of boomers retiring everyday we will add on layoffs on top of that leaving huge gaps in the labor force. And after the recession is over they won’t be coming back so we’ll have an even larger labor shortage in 2025 or 2026 and a massive inflation problem.

KidHorn

3 years ago

Reply to MPO45v2

Companies like workers who are old enough to be on Medicare. They don’t have to pay for health insurance.

Lisa_Hooker

3 years ago

Reply to KidHorn

Actually they do.

The companies provide Medicare supplemental insurance, same as retirees buy.

Medicare just pays first.

Dr Funkenstein

3 years ago

Is executive pay being reduced?

WarpartySerf

3 years ago

Reply to Dr Funkenstein

Increased

Lisa_Hooker

3 years ago

Reply to Dr Funkenstein

Hidden.

ColoradoAccountant

3 years ago

I was laid off of my construction job in 1974. A horrible recession, and President Ford extended unemployment to one year. I got enrolled in graduate school and ended up a CPA instead of a journeyman carpenter. I wish everyone the same luck I had, because being unemployed can destroy you.