In 'nice reprieve,' job cut announcements declined last month

Emma OckermanThu, March 5, 2026 at 12:58 PM UTC

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Layoff announcements slid in February, according to a new report from the global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, amid other emerging signs the labor market may be stabilizing

Employers revealed plans to slash 48,307 roles last month, compared to the 108,435 job cut announcements seen in January.

Reductions were posted in fields like technology and transportation, Challenger said.

“February’s dip is a nice reprieve from the elevated job cut plans to start the year,” Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.

Still, “with U.S. involvement in a growing war in Iran, the end of Q1 may bring more layoff plans as companies tighten belts amid uncertainty and higher costs,” he added.

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Just two months into the year, the job market has already been rocked by steep cuts from major employers like Amazon and UPS, as well as Block’s recent headline-making announcement that it would slash 40% of its staff amid AI advancements. (To be sure, many are questioning whether Square’s layoffs have more to do with the hype surrounding AI rather than its current capabilities.)

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But the layoff rate, as measured by the federal government, has remained fairly steady. At 1.1% in December, it was still a hair below the rate of 1.3% seen before the pandemic slammed into the economy in March 2020.

Kory Kantenga, head of economics in the Americas at LinkedIn, said in an analysis on Wednesday that “mentions of layoffs on LinkedIn remain on par with fall levels after a brief rise in November,” adding the government’s layoff rate was “expected to remain unchanged in January and year-over-year” when it’s posted next week.

The Labor Department’s much-anticipated jobs report containing last month’s payroll growth data, meanwhile, will be published Friday morning. It’s expected to show a monthly gain of nearly 60,000 new positions, as well as a steady 4.3% unemployment rate.

Data on private employer payrolls from ADP posted on Wednesday showed a gain of 63,000 positions last month, with many of those hires concentrated in education and healthcare services.

Emma Ockerman is a reporter covering the economy and labor for Yahoo Finance. You can reach her at emma.ockerman@yahooinc.com.

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Source: “AOL Money”