The number of planned layoffs in the U.S. surged in January, reaching its highest monthly level in 17 years.

According to Odaily Odaily, the Challenger job cut rate in the US surged 205% month-on-month in January, compared to a -50.15% in the previous month. Due to declining business contracts and economic uncertainty, US employers announced a surge in layoffs in January, reaching the highest monthly level in 17 years. The employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that planned layoffs surged 118% year-on-year to 108,435 last month, the highest January figure since the end of the global recession in 2009. "Typically, the first quarter sees a higher number of layoffs, but the total number of layoffs in January this year is quite high," said Andy Challenger, the company's chief revenue officer. "This means that most of these layoff plans are made by the end of 2025, indicating that employers are not optimistic about the outlook for 2026." The increase in layoffs was mainly driven by the transportation industry, with 31,243 layoffs related to UPS. The tech industry announced 22,291 job cuts, mostly from Amazon, which announced plans to lay off 16,000 corporate employees. Additionally, the healthcare industry has seen significant planned layoffs, partly due to reduced reimbursements from federally funded Medicaid and Medicare programs. (Jinshi)