January 2026 Layoffs Rise Sharply

January 2026 layoffs surged, the Challenger, Gray & Christmas report showed on Feb. 5, as transportation and technology cuts tied to UPS and Amazon dominated. Hiring plans fell to their weakest January on record, signaling cooling labor demand heading into 2026.

Layoff Scale and Sector Breakdown

Employers announced 108,435 U.S. job cuts in January 2026, the highest January total since 2009 and the largest monthly tally since October 2025. Transportation led with 31,243 cuts, driven mainly by UPS layoffs linked to an Amazon contract loss. Technology firms reported 22,291 cuts, including about 16,000 Amazon layoffs concentrated in corporate roles. Hospitals and health systems accounted for 17,107 cuts amid inflation, rising labor costs, and lower Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements. Chemical-industry reductions totaled 4,701, reflecting automation shifts.

Hiring Decline and Layoff Causes

Planned hiring dropped to 5,306, the weakest January since tracking began in 2009, down 13% from January 2025 and 49% from December 2025. Many layoff plans were set at the end of 2025, signaling employer pessimism for 2026 and contributing to weaker hiring and longer job searches, which are running about three months longer than in 2024.

Contract loss was the leading reason for cuts with 30,784 announced, followed by market and economic conditions at 28,392 and restructuring at 20,044. Closings accounted for 12,738 reductions. AI-related job cuts totaled 7,624, about 7% of the total.

Official government releases were delayed amid a partial government shutdown, postponing the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ January jobs report and the December JOLTS release, limiting near-term public confirmation of the private survey’s trend.

"This is a high total for January," said Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas.