Technology leads 2024 job cuts

For the second straight year, technology topped all industries for U.S. job reductions in 2024 as multiple industries responded to slowed consumer and business demand, according to the latest tracking by Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

U.S.-based employers announced a total of 761,358 job cuts during 2024, rising 5.5% from the prior year and marking the highest annual total since 2020, when more than 2.3 million reductions were announced in the early months of the pandemic, the outplacement firm reported. For non-pandemic years, 2024 had the highest number of reductions since the 1.2 million posted in 2009.

“Companies underwent extraordinary change in 2024 due to rapid technological advancement and shifting economic conditions,” Senior Vice President Andrew Challenger said in a statement. He added that 2025 started with slowed hiring amid uncertainties about policies of the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, among other factors.

Technology companies announced 11,430 job cuts during December, the most of any sector, though the full-year tally for that industry, at 133,988, was down 20.3% from 2023. Several major tech firms had job cuts or real estate pullbacks during 2024, including Amazon, Microsoft and Google.

The category that includes real estate brokerage, investment and development had a total of 4,712 announced job cuts during 2024, down about 37% from the prior year. In percentage terms, industries with the highest year-over-year increases in cuts included aerospace and defense at 263%, reaching nearly 30,000; education at 178%, reaching almost 29,000; and construction at 108%, nearing 12,000.