October saw 153,074 job cuts across the U.S., with tech companies announcing 33,281 layoffs. It marks the worst employment numbers for the month in more than 20 years.
October was brutal for American workers, and especially devastating for the tech industry. According to a new report from career transition services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. employers announced 153,074 job cuts last month, a staggering 175 percent increase from October 2024. The technology sector led the carnage, announcing 33,281 cuts compared to just 5,639 in September. This marks the highest total for October in over two decades and the worst single month in the fourth quarter since the financial crisis of 2008.
The scale of these layoffs reflects deeper economic pressures reshaping Silicon Valley. Tech companies are restructuring amid AI integration, slower consumer and corporate spending, and rising operational costs. For the year so far, technology firms have announced 141,159 job cuts, up 17 percent from the same period in 2024.
Major employers like Amazon have already shed thousands of workers. Andy Challenger, a workplace expert at the firm, noted that those laid off are finding it harder to secure new roles quickly, which could further weaken the labor market. In a Bloomberg opinion column, an editor noted that India's workforce is especially susceptible to AI job disruption.
The reasons behind the cuts remain contested. Some observers point to artificial intelligence as the primary disruptor, comparing the current moment to 2003 when another transformative technology reshaped the landscape. Some job seekers are even looking to learn artificial intelligence as a way to stay ahead of the curve. Others argue the picture is more complex, citing mundane but powerful factors like lack of growth in non-AI sectors, tariff policies squeezing profits, and the difficulty of long-term planning in an uncertain economic environment. The lack of official government data due to the recent shutdown has left private analysis as the clearest window into what's happening on the ground.
What's clear is that the tech industry's hiring boom during the pandemic is now reversing sharply. Workers who rode that wave upward are now facing a tightened job market where landing a new position takes longer and competition is fiercer. Whether this represents a necessary correction or a sign of deeper economic trouble remains an open question, but the numbers tell an unmistakable story: October 2025 could be remembered as a turning point for American tech employment.
Interested parties can read more about the report on the Challenger, Gray & Christmas blog.
