Last month was a particularly active one for layoffs, despite the reality that the number of job cuts this year actually trails those announced in 2025, except for a few hard-hit industries.
A report out from Challenger, Gray & Christmas this week paints the picture: U.S. employers cut 83,387 jobs in April, a 38% increase over the previous month. That marks the third-highest April total ever, following the pandemic-driven 671,129 losses in April 2020 and last year’s 105,441 cuts. Since the start of 2026, U.S. employers have cut more than 300,000 jobs—a 50% drop from this time last year.
Despite YTD drops in overall job losses, there were 33,361 tech cuts in April, bringing the total in the industry this year to 85,411—a 33% jump from this time last year and the highest YTD total in three years.
“Technology companies continue to announce large-scale cuts and are leading all industries in layoff announcements,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas in a release.
While April was a significant month for tech cuts, other industries have also seen spikes in their YTD numbers. For instance, job cuts in pharmaceuticals jumped 500% year-over-year, while cuts increased 167% among chemical companies and 71% in industrial manufacturing.
At the same time, April marked a slowdown in hiring. Hiring plans dropped 69% from March and 13% year-over-year.
While foreign competition, government regulations, shifting consumer behavior and tariffs were all cited as driving layoffs, AI was the top reason across industries for the second month in a row, accounting for about 26% of last month’s cuts.
At last month’s HR Tech Europe in Amsterdam, industry analyst Josh Bersin said in a keynote that headcount reductions related to AI are strategically flawed. Workforce planning should involve mapping processes with embedded AI agents and then designing roles around the work that remains.
“You don’t say, ‘What are we doing now, and how do we automate that?’ ” Bersin said. “Because a lot of what you’re doing now, you’re not even going to have to do.”
Despite that, Challenger said, the report finds that, regardless of whether jobs are actually being replaced by AI, “the money for those roles is.”
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