U.S. companies cut 77,770 jobs in February, compared with 1,02,943 in January, with technology companies continuing to lead the layoff race, shedding 21,387 jobs last month, accounting for 28 percent of all cuts, a new report showed.
According to executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the technology industry has cut a total of 63,216, a 33,705 percent increase from the 187 announced cuts in the same period last year.
This sector has announced 35 percent of all job cuts by 2023.
“Obviously, employers are aware of interest rate hike plans from the Fed. Many have been planning for a downturn for months and cutting costs elsewhere. If things continue to cool, layoffs are typically the last piece of a company’s cost-cutting strategies,” said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
“Right now, the overwhelming majority of cuts are happening in technology. Retail and finance are also cutting right now as spending matches economic conditions,” he added.
In addition, the report said the Health Care/Products area, which includes hospitals and health product manufacturers, announced the second most layoffs in February with 9,749, for a total of 16,482 this year — an 85 percent increase from the 8,928 cuts announced at the same time last year year.
Retailers have announced 17,456 layoffs so far in 2023, up 2,194 percent from the 761 announced cuts in the sector during the same period in 2022.
Financial firms have cut 17,235 jobs, 1,401 percent higher than the 1,148 cuts announced in January and February last year.
In the first two months of the year, Fintech has announced 4,675 layoffs, 45 percent of the 10,476 industry cuts in all of 2022, the report said.
So far in 2023, the media industry has announced plans to cut 9,738 jobs, a 158 percent increase from the 3,774 announced cuts in the sector as a whole last year.