The wave of US layoffs coexists with a recovery in recruitment: employers' layoffs in the second quarter increased 39% year-on-year, and recruitment is still recovering at a low level

The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to the latest data disclosed by international human resources consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the US labor market showed a complicated trend in the second quarter of 2025. Although the number of layoffs in a single month in June fell sharply by 49% to 47,999 compared to May, and a year-on-year decrease of 2%, the cumulative number of layoffs this quarter still reached 247,256, the highest number of layoffs in the same period since the second quarter of 2020 (1.24 million). It is worth noting that although it is down 50% from the first quarter, it is still up 39% from the second quarter of last year, indicating that corporate adjustments are continuing.

Andrew Charinger, the company's senior vice president, analyzed that changes in the economic environment were the main reason for the layoffs that month. Although the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) related adjustments and tariff policies established by the Trump administration directly affected more than 2,000 jobs, the overall pace of layoffs has slowed down compared to the previous period. At the other end of the job market, employers announced plans to recruit 82,932 people during the same period, an increase of 19% over the first half of 2024, but this figure is still below the historical average.

The characteristics of industry differentiation are remarkable: government departments have laid off 288,628 employees throughout the year. Among them, federal agencies became the hardest hit area. The number of government layoffs in June alone increased 46% over the previous month. In the private sector, the retail sector led the way with 79,865 layoffs, a sharp increase of 256% over the previous year; the technology industry followed, with 76,214 jobs abolished during the year, an increase of 27%. Nonprofit organizations were impacted by factors such as reduced federal funding, rising operating costs, and uncertain economic prospects, and the number of layoffs soared 407% year over year to 16,930.

It is worth noting that the media industry showed structural adjustments: 4,752 workers were laid off during the year, down 46% from the previous year. Among them, the number of layoffs in the journalism industry dropped sharply by 52% to 1,139, indicating that the pressure on traditional media to transform has eased slightly. Overall, however, the labor market is still facing structural adjustment challenges amid the intertwining of large-scale layoffs and a moderate recovery in recruitment demand.