Recession 2025?

A sign for a job fair in New York in September. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Well, the great, great economy that the orange menace endlessly promised, due to his innate genius of being the ultimate business man, is taking a rather large hit due to circumstances beyond his control, something most galling as he knows, without question, how to run a once great nation known as America better than anyone, right?

Layoffs accelerated in October, pushing 2025 job cuts to levels typically seen in recessions, according to newly released data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a private firm that tracks workplace reductions.

U.S. employers have announced 1.1 million layoffs so far this year — the largest reading since the pandemic recession and on par with 2008 and 2009 job cuts during the Great Recession, the firm’s figures show. The data includes a recent spate of layoffs at major companies such as UPS, Amazon and Target, and adds to growing concern about a labor market slowdown.

Employers cited cost-cutting and artificial intelligence as the top two reasons for job reductions in October.

“We’re entering new territory with these layoffs in October,” said John Challenger, CEO of the consulting firm that tracks job losses. “We haven’t seen mega-layoffs of the size that are being discussed now — 48,000 from UPS, potentially 30,000 from Amazon — since 2020 and before that, since the recession of 2009. When you see companies making cuts of this size, it does signal a real shift in direction.” (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

Recent layoffs, the data shows, have been concentrated in technology, retail, service and warehousing jobs. Employers announced more than 153,000 job cuts last month, a 183 percent increase from the month before, marking the worst October for layoffs since 2003, the Challenger report said.

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