Layoffs are up nearly fivefold so far this year with tech companies leading the way

Companies announced nearly 90,000 layoffs in March, a sharp step up from the previous month and a giant acceleration from a year ago, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday.

Planned layoffs totaled 89,703 for the period, an increase of 15% from February. Year to date, job cuts have soared to 270,416, an increase of 396% from the same period a year ago.

The damage was especially bad in tech, which has announced 102,391 cuts so far in 2023. That’s a staggering increase of 38,487% from a year ago and good for 38% of all staff reductions. Tech already has cut 5% more than for all of 2022, according to the report, and is on pace to eclipse 2001, the worst year ever amid the dotcom bust.

“We know companies are approaching 2023 with caution, though the economy is still creating jobs,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “With rate hikes continuing and companies’ reigning in costs, the large-scale layoffs we are seeing will likely continue.”

Financial companies have announced the second-highest rate of cuts this year, with the 30,635 layoffs representing a 419% increase from the first quarter in 2022. Health care and retail are the next highest.

At the same time, planned hiring waned in March, totaling just 9,044, or the worst for the month since 2015. On a year-to-date basis, planned additions are at the lowest quarterly total since 2016.

The main reason cited for job cuts has been market and economic conditions, with cost-cutting the next most-often mentioned reason.

The Challenger report comes a day ahead of the Labor Department’s nonfarm payrolls count. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect job growth of 238,000 for March, which would be the smallest increase since January 2020.