January layoffs just hit their highest level since 2009, but hiring tells an even darker story

U.S. employers announced 108,435 layoffs in January, the highest total for the start of a year since the depths of the 2009 financial crisis. As reported by CNBC, the figure represents a 118% increase from January last year and a 205% jump compared to December 2025, signaling a sharp shift in the labor market.

The scale of the cuts alone was striking, but the hiring numbers painted an even bleaker picture. Companies announced just 5,306 new hires during the month, the lowest January total since 2009 and the weakest reading since Challenger, Gray & Christmas began tracking the data.

Together, the figures suggest that employers are not only cutting jobs aggressively but are also pulling back almost entirely on bringing in new workers. The long-discussed “no-fire, no-hire” environment has given way to something far more one-sided.

Layoffs surged as hiring plans collapsed

Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said elevated job cuts are common early in the year but stressed that January’s total was unusually high. He noted that many of the reductions were planned at the end of 2025, reflecting a growing lack of confidence among employers about economic conditions in 2026, alongside the crypto bill ethics dispute.

Several major companies contributed to the spike. Transportation and technology were the hardest-hit sectors in January, with transportation leading largely due to UPS announcing plans to cut more than 30,000 jobs. Technology followed after Amazon said it would eliminate 16,000 mostly corporate roles, while Dow Inc. also announced significant workforce reductions.

At the same time, hiring intentions continued to deteriorate. Planned hiring fell 13% compared with January 2025 and dropped 49% from December, underscoring how reluctant companies have become to add staff even as they shrink existing workforces.

Other labor market indicators reinforced the trend. Separate data released Thursday showed job openings fell sharply in December to 6.54 million, the lowest level since September 2020, representing a decline of more than 900,000 openings since October.

That drop has pushed the ratio of available jobs to unemployed workers down to 0.87 to 1, a dramatic reversal from mid-2022, when there were more than two openings for every unemployed person. The shift highlights how quickly demand for workers has cooled.

While Challenger’s data can be volatile and does not always line up perfectly with government statistics, additional signals point in the same direction. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filings in January showed more than 100 companies gave notice of significant layoffs, alongside workplace ICE incident backlash at Target. Private payrolls also increased by just 22,000 jobs, according to a separate report released Wednesday.

Initial jobless claims rose to a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ending January 31, the highest level since early December, though that increase was likely influenced by severe winter storms. Even accounting for weather-related distortions, the combination of soaring layoffs and collapsing hiring plans points to a difficult start to the year for the U.S. labor market.