US-based employers introduced 60,602 job cuts in March, some 25% larger than what was seen in February. That being stated, it’s down roughly 78% from the 275,240 cuts introduced throughout the identical month final yr. However as you may bear in mind, that owed a lot to Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative on the time.
“Eradicating the wave of federal layoffs introduced in February and March of final yr, job reduce bulletins in 2026 are intently following the sample of 2025. Final yr it was authorities, retail, and expertise. This yr, it’s expertise, transportation, and healthcare.”
The tech sector continues to be the one main layoffs, with one other 18,720 job cuts in March. The entire within the sector for 2026 is already at 52,050 layoffs year-to-date. That is a rise of 40% from the 37,097 cuts on this sector introduced in the identical interval final yr. And the principle cause appears to be AI-related.
“Corporations are shifting budgets towards AI investments on the expense of jobs. The precise changing of roles might be seen in Expertise firms, the place AI can change coding features. Different industries are testing the boundaries of this new expertise, and whereas it could actually’t change jobs fully, it’s costing jobs.”
As an entire, firms who cited AI as cause for reducing jobs led the remainder of the pack with 15,341 layoffs introduced throughout the month. That’s virtually 25% of the full cuts introduced in March.
