The pace of planned job cuts announced by U.S. employers remains sharply below last year’s levels, though the decline has moderated compared with the prior month, according to the latest Challenger Job Cuts data updated on 3 September 2026.
On a year-over-year basis, the current reading shows job cuts down 38.5% from the same month a year ago. This compares with a 46.1% year-over-year decline recorded in the previous month, indicating that while layoff announcements are still substantially lower than a year earlier, the rate of improvement has eased.
The figures, based on Challenger, Gray & Christmas’ tracking of corporate layoff plans, suggest U.S. employers continue to exercise restraint in workforce reductions relative to last year, even as the magnitude of the annual decline in job cuts has narrowed between the two most recent comparison periods.