DOGE-driven government job cuts push March layoffs to pandemic highs

There's been a surge in layoffs in the U.S

The month of March saw the third highest ever level of job cut announcements only behind April and May of 2020 during the height of the pandemic

Almost 80% of the layoffs in the U.S. job market last month were from the federal government

In March, there were 275,000 layoff announcements, according to Job Placement firm Challenger

That's the third highest amount of layoffs since Challenger started tracking data in 19

Only behind April of 2020, which saw over 671,000 jobs cut, and May of 2020, which saw 397,000 layoffs

Of the 275,000 jobs cut last month, nearly 80% of them were government jobs

According to Challenger the Department of Government Efficiency or Doge initiatives led to nearly 217 government layoffs The senior vice president behind the job placement firm Challenger said 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. Layoffs jumped 60% from February to March this year. Outside of the government, technology and retail companies saw the biggest job cuts with 15,000

and 11,000 respectively. The dose-driven layoffs are not all immediate. While some of these federal workers have already lost their jobs

many others are on what's called a paid notice period, meaning they won't be officially unemployed for a few months

so effects on the overall labor market may be more gradual. We'll get a clearer picture of the broader labor market Friday

when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its March jobs report. Thanks for watching

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