Procter & Gamble plans job cuts; Tariffs weigh on Shein, Temu; Jobless claims rise

Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble plans to reduce its workforce by about 7,000 over the next two years as part of a restructuring, citing slowing sales and rising costs expected to be exacerbated by tariffs. The news arrived as outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that U.S.-based employers announced 93,816 job cuts in May, down 12% from the prior month but up 47% from a year earlier.

“Tariffs, funding cuts, consumer spending and overall economic pessimism are putting intense pressure on companies’ workforces,” Senior Vice President Andrew Challenger said in a statement Thursday. “Companies are spending less, slowing hiring and sending layoff notices.”

Procter & Gamble officials announced planned cuts at a Thursday consumer conference presented by Deutsche Bank. Plans also include price increases in its fiscal year that starts in July, supply chain restructuring and other moves to reduce brand offerings and exit some global regions that it currently serves. The company will provide more details during its next quarterly earnings call in July.

“This restructuring program is an important step toward ensuring our ability to deliver our long-term algorithm over the coming two to three years,” P&G Chief Financial Officer Andre Schulten said at the bank conference. “It does not, however, remove the near-term challenges that we currently face.”

The planned job cuts amount to about 15% of the nonmanufacturing workforce at Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, owner of prominent household brands like Crest, Tide, Pampers and Charmin. The company employs about 108,000 worldwide at more than 300 locations, according to CoStar data and public filings.

Two prominent e-commerce sites with roots in Asia have significantly shed U.S. customers amid planned tariff hikes affecting goods from China, as companies in multiple industries watch for results of trade talks between U.S. and Chinese leaders. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a phone conservation Thursday and made plans for an in-person meeting regarding tariffs.

Shopping site Temu’s count of U.S. daily active users was down 52% in May compared with March, with Shein’s American user traffic dropping 25% in that period, according to data firm Sensor Tower. Both Temu and Shein have altered their logistics arrangements and are building up their U.S. warehouses in response to tariffs.

Singapore-based Shein, with U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles, announced last year that it was planning to expand its U.S. fulfillment operations with a new office in Seattle. Shein is also expanding its warehouse operations in Vietnam, according to Reuters.

Owned by Chinese firm PDD Holdings with U.S. headquarters in Boston, Temu last month stopped its direct shipping of items from China to U.S. customers after the Trump administration removed an exemption that allowed packages under $800 in value to enter the U.S. duty-free. Packages from mainland China and Hong Kong are now taxed at 120% of the sale price or are subject to a flat fee starting at $100.

Initial U.S. claims for unemployment insurance totaled 247,000 for the week ended May 31, up 8,000 from the prior week’s revised level, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Numbers have fluctuated in recent weeks, though the latest was on the high end of the range of 200,000 to 250,000 posted for weekly claims during the past year.

The government said continued claims in all programs, reported on a more delayed basis, totaled about 1.8 million for the week ended May 17. That was down about 3,600 from the previous week but higher than the 1.7 million figure for the comparable week of 2024.

“The latest jobless claims data are signaling looser labor market conditions, with an uptick in initial claims suggesting layoffs may be rising while the elevated level of continued claims confirms it is difficult for unemployed workers to find jobs,” Oxford Economics lead economist Nancy Vanden Houten said in a statement from the research firm.

Vanden Houten said the latest initial claims tally and the four-week moving average for initial claims, at 235,000, were both at their highest level since October.