March’s government job cuts are at their highest since September 2011, with layoffs hitting the U.S. Army and the Veterans Affairs offices amid job losses across different industries in the country, according to data from job search and coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
In March, government agencies cut more than 36,000 jobs, with 10,000 layoffs coming from Veterans Affairs while the Army cut 24,000 roles. Overall, employers eliminated more than 90,000 positions last month, a 7 percent increase from February.
In the first quarter of 2024, employers said they planned to slash more than 257,000 jobs. This was 5 percent less than at the same time last year, though a whopping 120 percent higher than the end of 2023.
“Layoffs certainly ticked up to round out the first quarter, though below last year’s levels,” Andy Challenger, workplace and labor expert at Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., said in a statement. “Many companies appear to be reverting to a ‘do more with less’ approach.”
Companies reducing jobs say that cost-cutting is the main reason for slashing positions.
Drazen Zigic/Getty Images
As of March, technology firms cut more than 42,000 positions since the start of the year, reflecting some of the headlines that the sector is recalibrating following the hiring spree seen during COVID. Nevertheless, this year’s job cuts were 59 percent lower than the same time in 2023. In March alone, tech businesses reduced more than 14,000 positions.
“While Technology continues to lead all industries so far this year, several industries, including Energy and Industrial Manufacturing, are cutting more jobs this year than last,” Challenger said.
Financial firms also reduced headcount in the first quarter, slashing close to 29,000 jobs, though, again, this was lower than last year.
Some companies are also looking to hire, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., but at a slower pace. In the first quarter, employers said they aim to add nearly 37,000 jobs, with the energy and tech sectors leading the way in recruitment. This was 48 percent fewer positions than at the same time last year.
“This is the lowest number of announced hiring plans since 2016,” Challenger, Gray & Christmas noted in its report.
The data comes at a time when workers appear to be in a strong position, with millions of jobs available for American workers. Meanwhile, private employers hired 184,000 new workers in March, according to the ADP Research Institute, with the services sector leading the way adding 142,000 roles. At the same, employees who changed jobs were getting higher wages, suggesting a strong labor market for workers.
“Strong growth of 184,000 jobs, strong pay growth per job changers, and these sentiment indicators both in the manufacturing survey and our own worker sentiment and that is still seeing a pretty solid, maybe even good to great, jobs market for 2024,” Nela Richardson’s, ADP’s chief economist, said on Wednesday.
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