CNN has announced breaking news regarding layoff activity under Donald Trump. The broadcaster announced that in June, US-based employers announced 47,999 job cuts, marking a 49% decline from May and a 2% drop from June of last year. Senior reporter Matt Egan said that the figures came from Challenger, Gray & Christmas after it released its latest report that tracks layoff announcements. CNN also reported that layoff announcements tend to decrease in June, a month when some companies’ fiscal year ends, and July, Challenger historical figures show.
Reporter Matt said on CNN: “This report paints a picture of a job market that is holding up better than feared. Layoff announcements skyrocketed earlier this year, but thankfully, they are coming back to earth.”
Challenger also noted that layoff announcements are running at the highest rate since the COVID-19 pandemic and, before that, the Great Recession.
However, nearly 40% of the 744,308 announced layoffs made in the first half of 2025 came from mass cuts conducted by the Department of Government Efficiency initiative launched by the Trump administration, with Elon Musk leading from the front.
Earlier this year, lay-offs were prominent across the USA. The Trump administration spurred the firing of tens of thousands of government workers in a move that came in the form of a short update to a memo first circulated hours after Trump’s inauguration.
Trump told agencies to prioritise downsizing “all offices that perform functions not mandated by statute or other law.” His effort started with an attempt to encourage voluntary resignations through a so-called “fork in the road” initiative.
It then moved into the indiscriminate termination of probationary employees. This referred to workers hired, transferred, or promoted within the past year. This resulted in a protest on President’s Day.
As of April 28, 2025, the broadcaster CNN tracked at least 121,361 workers who had been laid off or targeted for layoffs.