Job cuts are highest for any January since 2009. See why.

In an omen of economic uncertainty ahead, U.S. companies laid off 108,435 workers in January, an increase of 205% from December. That's the highest number of job cuts announced in any January since the Great Recession of 2009, according to a labor trend report released Feb. 5.

Layoffs in January 2026 were 118% higher than the 49,795 cuts announced in January 2025, according to the global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

The number of announced job cuts soared to more than 670,000 in April 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 shutdowns. But those were related to the pandemic, not regular business cycles.

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“Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in the first quarter, but this is a high total for January,” Andy Challenger said in a release accompanying his firm's report.