Challenger Report: February Job Cuts Down 72% Year Over Year

U.S.-based companies reported 48,307 job cuts in February, down 72% from the 172,017 job cuts in February 2025, according to the February Challenger Report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Job cuts were also down 55% from January.

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

For the month of February, technology (11,039), education (5,417) and industrial goods (4,109) led job cuts by industry.

“Tech is responding to a number of pressures right now,” says Challenger. “AI is the big story, but there are also global regulatory concerns, a slowdown in digital advertising driven by tariffs and economic uncertainty and higher costs to both employ workers and access funding, forcing companies to make difficult decisions.”

Year-to-date, the technology sector has announced the most job cuts at 33,330, followed by transportation at 31,702 and healthcare/products at 19,228.

The top five reasons cited for February job cuts were:

• Closings (10,736)
• Market and economic conditions (10,114)
• Restructuring (9,146)
• Cost-cutting (5,636)
• Artificial intelligence (4,680)

Hiring plans hit 12,755 last month, up 140% compared to 5,306 in January, but down 63% from February 2025.