DOGE cuts drive layoffs in March to highest level since pandemic
U.S. employers in March announced the third-highest number of layoffs on record last month as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continued its efforts in reducing the federal workforce, new data showed.
The monthly report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that employers announced 275,240 job cuts in March, a 60% increase from the prior month when 172,017 cuts were announced.
Last month's cuts are up 205% from March 2024, which was the highest monthly total recorded last year.
"Job cut announcements were dominated last month by Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to eliminate positions in the federal government. It would have otherwise been a fairly quiet month for layoffs," said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president and workplace expert for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
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Over the last two months, DOGE's cutbacks have been attributed to 280,253 layoffs of federal workers and contractors at 27 agencies, according to Challenger tracking. There were an additional 4,429 job cuts attributed to the downstream effect of cutting federal aid and ending contracts, mostly at nonprofits and health organizations.
The number of job cuts announced in March is the third-highest monthly period ever recorded in the data series – trailing only the massive cuts announced early in the COVID pandemic when 671,129 cuts were recorded in April 2020 and 397,016 in May 2020.
Challenger began reporting on job cut plans in 1989.
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In the first three months of 2025, employers have announced 497,052 layoffs, the highest year-to-date and quarterly total since the first quarter of 2009, when 578,510 cuts were announced.
It represents an increase of 93% from the 257,254 cuts announced in the first quarter of 2024, and a 227% jump from the 152,116 job cuts in the previous quarter.
The "DOGE impact" was the leading reason cited for job cuts this year, accounting for 280,253 of the cuts – including 216,670 in March. Market and economic conditions followed with 47,851 job cuts in the first quarter.
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Additionally, companies' hiring plans fell in March from 34,580 in February to 13,198 last month. In the first quarter of 2025, companies announced plans to hire 53,867 workers – a 16% decrease from the 64,163 announced in Q1 of 2024.
The first quarter of 2025 is the lowest Q1 hiring total since 2012, when 52,540 hiring plans were announced.