American technology firms dominated the number of announced job cuts in December, as some employers downsized workforces to brace for the prospect of difficult economic times looming ahead.
According to the latest job cuts report from employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc, released on Thursday, U.S.-based employers said they were cutting 43,651 jobs in the final month of 2022, down 43% from the number of cuts announced in November.
The planned pace of layoffs in December was well above the 19,052 cuts announced in December 2021, the report said. For all of 2022, the report said there were 363,824 planned layoffs, up 13% from 2021.
Tech companies, which have been facing rising challenges and withering stock prices, bore the brunt of the December planned job cuts, with 16,193. The report said that tech companies led announced job cuts for all of 2022, at 97,171 planned layoffs. That is up 649% from 2021.
Layoffs are taking place in an economy where overall job growth has remained strong and unemployment, which stood at 3.7% in November, is at a historically low level.
