Here are some recent layoff announcements by major corporations.
Layoff Announcements
UPS: UPS Cuts 48,000 Jobs in Management and Operations
UPS Quick Summary
- UPS reduced its management workforce by about 14,000 and its operational workforce by 34,000 positions.
- Restructuring efforts at UPS have generated about $2.2 billion in cost savings this year.
- Third-quarter profit and revenue declined, but results surpassed expectations, leading to a 12% premarket share rally.
GM: General Motors Lays Off Thousands of Electric-Vehicle Workers in U.S.
GM Quick Summary
- General Motors is laying off thousands of workers at electric vehicle and battery plants due to slower EV adoption.
- GM is realigning EV capacity, affecting workers across Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.
- Battery plants in Ohio and Tennessee will be idled in January, with production planned to resume in mid-2026.
Target: Around 1,800 jobs expected to be cut from Target HQ
Target Quick Summary
- Around 1,800 jobs expected to be cut from Target HQ on Tuesday
- Roughly 1,000 people are expected to receive layoff notices from Target’s corporate headquarters on Tuesday.
- It follows the company’s announcement last week that 1,000 team members and 800 open jobs would be cut.
- This equates to about 8% of the company’s corporate staff.
Amazon: 14,000 Corporate Layoffs, 30,000 Total
Amazon Quick Summary
- Amazon announced 14,000 job cuts, part of an expected reduction of up to 30,000 corporate jobs, or roughly 10% of its corporate workforce.
- The layoffs, affecting various units including HR and cloud computing, are a cost-cutting measure and an effort to reduce bureaucracy.
- These reductions are the largest since 2022 and aim to correct aggressive pandemic-era hiring, with AI expected to further reduce the workforce.
Global Firms Slash Jobs
Reuters reports Global firms slash jobs amid weak sentiment, AI push
According to a Reuters tally, American companies have announced more than 25,000 job cuts this month, not including UPS’s 48,000 figure, which dates from the beginning of 2025. In Europe, the total tops 20,000, with Nestlé accounting for the bulk after last week’s 16,000-role reduction.
I total 35,100 from Amazon, GM, and Target. Counting UPS, the 4-company total is 83,100.
But US happened over time. I don’t have a recent breakdown.
Help Not Wanted
The Wall Street Journal comments Tens of Thousands of White-Collar Jobs Are Disappearing as AI Starts to Bite
The nation’s largest employers have a new message for office workers: help not wanted.
Amazon.com said this week that it would cut 14,000 corporate jobs, with plans to eliminate as much as 10% of its white-collar workforce eventually. United Parcel Service said Tuesday that it had reduced its management workforce by about 14,000 positions over the past 22 months, days after the retailer Target said it would cut 1,800 corporate roles.
Earlier in October, white-collar workers from companies including Rivian Automotive, Molson Coors TAP, Booz Allen Hamilton and General Motors received pink slips—or learned that they would come soon. Added up, tens of thousands of newly laid off white-collar workers in America are entering a stagnant job market with seemingly no place for them.
The white-collar jobs on the chopping block have been roles that many American workers aspired to secure. They paid up for college credentials to qualify for an interview, then landed comfortable jobs such as human-resource managers and midlevel engineers.
Now what was once a stable position feels like a ticking time bomb, with employees who worked their way up the corporate ladder awaiting their turn for a video call announcing their last day.
Jobs that are higher-paying and require a bachelor’s degree are more exposed to AI than other positions, economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found.
Mike Hoffman, chief executive of the growth advisory consulting firm SBI, said in the past six months he has cut his software-development team by 80% while productivity has surged. “We have someone managing clusters of agents that are doing coding,” he said. “Our AI writes its own Python.”
Investors are pressuring companies to streamline operations, Hoffman said, seeking head-count reductions as steep as 30%. Executives should ask themselves whether they can do so and whether it is the right thing to do, he said.
On Monday, the online-learning company Chegg said it would cut 388 jobs globally, about 45% of the workforce, as it pivots to an AI model that automatically answers students’ questions.
About 100,000 Government Workers Are Off the Payrolls as of October 1
On October 4 I noted About 100,000 Government Workers Are Off the Payrolls as of October 1
This was not reflected in the September data.
And it will not be reflected in the October data either because the BLS captured no data in October.
Nonetheless, the BLS may produce a report, but it will be even worse than the normal jobs garbage.
Powell’s Comments Today
Earlier today I noted Fed Cuts Key Interest Rate by a Quarter Point, Shutdown Obscures Data
One of the first comments Powell made in his post-FOMC speech was “Layoffs remain low.”
Does anyone disagree?
