March 7 (UPI) — Layoffs at U.S. companies for February hit a 15-year high, according to a report released on Thursday.
Companies based in the United States laid off 84,638 employees in February 2024, the highest since February 2009 which saw 186,350 layoffs, the report from firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said.
“As we navigate the start of 2024, we’re witnessing a persistent wave of layoffs,” Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Senior Vice President Andrew Challenger said. “Businesses are aggressively slashing costs and embracing technological innovations, actions that are significantly reshaping staffing needs.”
The February layoffs were up 9% from 77,770 during the same month in 2023 and up 3% from 82,307 in January 2024.
The most layoffs in February were in the technology sector with 28,218 jobs cut. Financial firms announced they would eliminate 26,856 jobs.
There were 7,806 job cuts in manufacturing so far this year while transportation companies laid off 14,148 workers so far in 2024.
Food manufacturers and producers announced 9,824 lay-offs. Media companies cut 4,685 jobs so far this year.
Restructuring is the main reason for these layoffs cited by the companies, with 37,659 jobs cut for that purpose.
Plant and store closing accounted for 26,272 lost jobs while cost-cutting trimmed another 20,890.
General economic and market conditions were blamed for 19,580 layoffs this year.
Artificial intelligence was explicitly cited as the reason for 383 job cuts. But AI could be behind more cuts where it is not explicitly the reason cited, because “incorporating new technology” was cited as the reason for 15,225 layoffs through February.
That is a significantly higher rate than the 15,489 total jobs cut for that reason since 2007.
“In light of the backlash some companies have faced for directly attributing job cuts to artificial intelligence, they appear to be framing this shift as a ‘technological update’ rather than an outright substitution of human roles with AI,” Challenger said.
Hiring plans announced so far in 2024 amounted to 15,693 workers, the lowest since Challenger began tracking hiring plans in 2009.
