Layoffs have risen 140 percent from a year ago, a new report reveals.Â
Companies have already announced more than 800,000 job cuts this year alone, the highest since the pandemic upended the economy in 2020.Â
US-based employers cut 62,075 jobs in July compared to 25,885 in the same month last year.Â
The damning figures represent a 29 percent leap from the month before where 47,999 people lost their livelihood, according to a report from career advice firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Some companies — such as Procter & Gamble — have been more elusive about the reasons behind mass cuts, blaming it on restructuring, ‘automation and digitization.’ Â
However, Challenger, Gray & Christmas analysts found that the biggest impact on job losses this year was the relentless march of AI and the knock-on effects of Trump’s tariff policies.Â
‘AI was cited for over 10,000 cuts last month, and tariff concerns have impacted nearly 6,000 jobs this year,’ report author and labor expert Andrew Challenger said.Â
Most jobs have been cut in the tech industry, where 89,251 have been cut in the first seven months of the year.Â
Companies have already announced more than 800,000 job cuts this year alone
‘The industry is being reshaped by the advancement of artificial intelligence and ongoing uncertainty surrounding work visas, which have contributed to workforce reductions,’ the report stated. Â
Among the tech companies slashing the wage bill is Amazon where CEO Andy Jassy said he plans to reduce the company’s corporate workforce as AI will make certain roles redundant.Â
‘​​As we roll out more generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,’ he told employees in an internal memo.Â
The company is betting big on AIÂ recently revealing plans to splash $100 billion on data centers that the technology depends on.
It has pumped further billions into startup Anthropic, the CEO of which recently warned AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs.Â
An increasing number of Wall Street CEOs have also warned about how the rise of AI will take a sledgehammer to jobs.
‘Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the US,’ Ford CEO Jim Farley said earlier this month.
Silicon Valley titan Intel also announced it would be cutting 25,000 roles in 2025, its second major round of job cuts in two years.
Amazon boss Andy Jassy warned that AI will lead to job cutsÂ
Layoffs in the US have risen 140 percent from a year ago. a shocking new report has found
Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley predicted the rise of AI will replace ‘half of all white-collar workers’
Microsoft said in July it is cutting around 4 percent of its global workforce as it ramps up investments in artificial intelligence.
The tech giant will slash around 9,000 jobs across different teams, geographies and levels of experience.Â
The AI-driven job bloodbath marks a major shift for American workers. For years, mass layoffs were concentrated in US manufacturing plants.Â
Now, they’re impacting college-educated, high-to-middle-class earners. Â
The demographic being pummeled the hardest appears to be recent male graduates.Â
Men aged 22 to 27 with at least a bachelor’s degree are now unemployed at higher rates than the general population. Â
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Layoffs soar 140% as the unspoken job threat gathers steam