See more visuals like this on the Voronoi app.
Use This Visualization
Ranked: U.S. Job Cuts by Industry in 2025
See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Key Takeaways
- Employers announced almost 1.1 million job cuts through October 2025, the highest total since 2020.
- Government, tech, warehousing, and retail saw the largest increases in layoffs, while aerospace, apparel, and transportation saw sharp declines.
The U.S. job market has shifted dramatically in 2025. Employers announced more than a million layoffs through October, up 65% from the same period last year. Much of the increase came from government reductions, including large DOGE-related cuts.
Meanwhile, sectors like tech, retail, and warehousing continued to shed workers at an accelerated pace. This visualization ranks the industries facing the largest job cuts so far this year. The data for this rank comes from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Government Layoffs Surged to Record Levels
Government job cuts jumped to more than 307,000, over eight times higher than the same period in 2024. A key driver was DOGE-related layoffs, which resulted in widespread workforce reductions. This made government the largest source of job cuts in 2025 by a wide margin.
| Industry | Job Cuts (YTD 2025) | Same period, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Government | 307,638 | 37,746 |
| Technology | 141,159 | 120,470 |
| Warehousing | 90,418 | 18,904 |
| Retail | 88,664 | 36,136 |
| Services | 63,580 | 39,296 |
| Financial | 48,968 | 38,625 |
| Health Care/Products | 44,256 | 44,816 |
| Consumer Products | 41,033 | 33,865 |
| Non-Profit | 27,651 | 5,329 |
| Food | 27,457 | 24,729 |
| Automotive | 26,149 | 34,314 |
| Pharmaceutical | 24,689 | 12,751 |
| Telecommunications | 22,896 | 10,280 |
| Entertainment/Leisure | 22,132 | 32,087 |
| Education | 20,013 | 26,466 |
| Media | 16,680 | 13,279 |
| Industrial Goods | 16,656 | 20,616 |
| Transportation | 15,544 | 25,739 |
| Energy | 15,161 | 9,702 |
| Electronics | 7,112 | 3,360 |
| Construction | 7,032 | 10,925 |
| Insurance | 5,324 | 5,990 |
| Apparel | 3,751 | 8,016 |
| Aerospace/Defense | 3,278 | 29,526 |
| Utility | 2,872 | 8,963 |
| Chemical | 2,800 | 1,588 |
| Mining | 2,526 | 1,373 |
| FinTech | 1,864 | 5,054 |
| Real Estate | 1,795 | 4,692 |
| Legal | 403 | 202 |
| Total | 1,099,500 | 664,839 |
Tech, Warehousing, and Retail Continued Their Downturn
The tech sector announced over 141,000 layoffs, extending a multi-year correction driven by restructuring, automation, and slower hiring pipelines. Warehousing recorded one of the steepest increases year over year, rising from 18,900 cuts in 2024 to more than 90,000 in 2025. Retail also saw layoffs more than double.
Several Industries Saw Major Declines in Job Cuts
Not all sectors faced worsening conditions. Aerospace and defense layoffs fell sharply from roughly 29,500 last year to just over 3,200 in 2025. Transportation and apparel also saw significant declines. The improvement in these areas suggests stabilization after several years of turbulence, including Boeing’s 2024 layoff announcement of 2,500 U.S. workers.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Visualizing the Cost of the U.S. Government Shutdown on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.