The number of job layoffs disclosed by US firms in January was the most since 2020, according to statistics gathered by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc, Bloomberg reports.
Businesses declared 102,943 layoffs in the month, which is 440% more than in January 2022 and more than twice as many as they disclosed in December, per Bloomberg. According to the study released on Thursday, 41% of the expected layoffs were in the technology sector.
According to Reuters, just last month, businesses like Microsoft Corp, Amazon, and Goldman Sachs Group slashed thousands of positions in an effort to weather a demand decline brought on by a decline in consumer and business expenditure as a result of high inflation and increasing interest rates.
“We’re now on the other side of the hiring frenzy of the pandemic years,” said Andrew Challenger, a labor expert and Senior Vice President of the employment firm. “Companies are preparing for an economic slowdown, cutting the workforce and slowing hiring.”
The IT industry, which lost the most employment last month across all industries—41,829—has been the focal point of the movement to rein in financial excesses, Reuters said.
After technology, retailers shed 13,000 jobs in January, compared to almost no redundancies a year earlier. In contrast, financial businesses cut 10,603 employees this month, jumping from 696 positions a year earlier.
In order to combat the effects of inflation which is still pretty high despite many rounds of rate rises, the Federal Reserve is predicted to keep raising rates. As a result, economists predicted that more layoffs may be in store for American businesses.
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