About 722,500 Americans lost their jobs in 2024, according to a recently published analysis of U.S. firms.
On Dec. 5, the Chicago-based consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. released its monthly report on the total announced number of job cuts across the United States through the first 11 months of the year.
All told, U.S. employers announced they cut about 57,700 jobs in November alone.
Representatives of Challenger, Gray & Christmas did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.
The consultancy identifies itself as a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm.
Additionally, through November, U.S. employers reported planned hires are at the lowest amount observed by the firm since 2015, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in its findings.
According to the firm’s report, the U.S. technology industry has announced about 130,700 job cuts through November, the health care industry about 47,200, and the automotive industry about 45,800.
In a statement, the consultancy’s Senior Vice President Andrew Challenger said the automotive industry is experiencing significant challenges, “including potential tariffs affecting U.S. automakers with overseas factories, intensifying competition from Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers, and shifts in government subsidies for EVs.”
Moreover, Challenger said in a statement that health care is experiencing similar regulatory, policy, and leadership changes that are leading to increased volatility.
“Labor disputes and new technologies are also causing workforce realignments,” Challenger said in a release.
The industrial manufacturing sector and the media industry—including the news, film, and television businesses—saw significant job losses in 2024.
Industrial manufacturing announced about 21,900 job cuts, and the media industry announced about 14,500 job cuts.
The news business, specifically, saw 4,500 job losses through the first 11 months of 2024. That’s about 50 percent more than the same period the prior year, the report said.
In terms of reasoning given for the job reductions, companies were most likely to cite either market or economic conditions in their November announcements.
So-called cost cutting is the biggest motivator for all job cuts in 2024, according to the report.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 7.74 million job openings in October.
However, in November, the same agency said the number of “permanent job losses” hit a three-year high of 1.893 million.
Despite these trends, economic observers who’ve previously spoken with The Epoch Times have said the U.S. job market remains healthy.
