Tuesday, January 27, 2026, Amazon Go store in New York, USA.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said on Thursday that layoff plans marked the highest total layoffs in January since the global financial crisis, while hiring intentions fell to the lowest since the same period.
U.S. employers announced 108,435 layoffs for the month, an increase of 118% from the same period last year and an increase of 205% from December 2025. The total was the highest for a January since 2009, even as the economy is in the final months of its deepest recession since the Great Depression.
At the same time, companies announced just 5,306 new hires, the lowest number for January since Challenger began tracking such data in 2009. The crisis recession officially ended in March 2009.
Recent coverage has focused on the no-hire, no-fire labor market, and Challenger data suggests the attrition part of the equation may be intensifying.
“Typically, the number of layoffs is high in the first quarter, but this is a high January total,” said Andy Challenger, the company’s workplace expert and chief revenue officer. “This means that most of these plans were set for the end of 2025, indicating that employers are less than optimistic about the outlook for 2026.”
Indeed, even as employers ramp up furlough plans for their employees, it doesn’t show up much in official government data.
However, the number of new jobless claims for the week ending Jan. 31 rose to a seasonally adjusted 231,000, the highest level since early December, and the spike is likely related to the severe winter storm that hit much of the country. The long-term trend remains at the lowest level since October 2024.
Some high-profile layoff announcements have raised concerns that the damage to the labor market will be worse. Amazon, UPS, and Dow recently announced significant layoffs. In fact, transportation had the highest sector performance in January, largely due to UPS’ plans to cut more than 30,000 jobs. Technology took second place after Amazon announced it would cut 16,000 jobs, mostly at the corporate level.
Employment plans are down 13% from January 2025 and 49% from December.
Challenger data is unstable and may not correlate with official statistics. However, documents filed in January with the Labor Department under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Regulations show that more than 100 companies have notified significant job cuts.
