Yeah, that’s bad. That is not good at all. There’s no real way to spin that as good. “This is the highest total for October in over 20 years, and the highest total for a single month in the fourth quarter since 2008,” the report states. “Like in 2003, a disruptive technology is changing the landscape.”
“October’s pace of job cutting was much higher than average for the month. Some industries are correcting after the hiring boom of the pandemic, but this comes as AI adoption, softening consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs drive belt-tightening and hiring freezes,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “Those laid off now are finding it harder to quickly secure new roles, which could further loosen the labor market.”
We’ve already written about the
huge layoffs that impacted the tech industry last month—including some 14,000 people who used to be (but are no longer) employed with Amazon. The exact reason for why tech companies are shedding jobs right now is still up in the air. One narrative attributes the layoffs to the rise of AI, but other commentators have noted that it could be much more mundane economic/business factors that are squeezing the industry like a lack of growth in non-AI sectors and tariff policy eating away at profits while making it difficult to plan for the future.