Layoff announcements are falling. Employers announced 43,281 job cuts in September, the lowest September total since 2022, and 573,195 through the first nine months of the year, down 39% from the same stretch of 2025, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The cuts that are happening are concentrated, though. Technology accounts for 165,925 of them, and companies cited artificial intelligence for 120,136, about 21% of the year’s total and more than any other reason.
The bigger change sits on the other side of a layoff. The median spell of unemployment reached 11.5 weeks in September, up from 10.1 weeks a year earlier, and 1.9 million people, or 27.1% of the unemployed, had been looking for work for 27 weeks or longer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Employers are holding on to the workers they have while hiring cautiously, which is why SSC has described an economy that is getting harder to enter. Losing a job now costs more time than it did a year ago, which makes preparation worth more while the paycheck is still arriving.
What It Means for You
Exposure no longer tracks only with a struggling employer. HubSpot is cutting about 7% of its staff as it reorganizes around AI-driven products, and Workday cut 500 jobs while still hiring, a pattern in which roles disappear when strategy shifts, even as the business grows. If your team supports a product the company is de-emphasizing, handles work that AI tools are now marketed to do, or sits in a management layer a reorganization could flatten, your risk is higher than your company’s headline results suggest. Workers early in their careers and those in technology, customer support and administrative roles have the most reason to pay attention.
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Sources: Challenger, Gray & Christmas September 2026 Job Cuts Report; Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Situation for September 2026; U.S. Department of Labor guidance on the WARN Act and COBRA; CanaryWhistle WARN data via SSC reporting. This column is general information, not individualized financial or legal advice.