California layoff plans hit 158,700 workers, No. 2 in US

California-centric layoff plans have hit workers so far this year the second-largest employment cuts nationwide Related Articles AI revolution prompts the bulk October US layoffs in over years Tech companies chop -plus more Bay Area jobs in new layoff rounds Are California s millennials paid enough California Supreme Court lets stand ruling that says UC s ban on hiring students without legal status is discriminatory Bay Area tech layoffs top in one week with new Amazon cuts in S F The job reports we usually follow are on hold during the federal regime s shutdown So my spreadsheet switched to a long-running tally of layoff news from major corporations compiled by workplace consultants at Challenger Gray Christmas Their latest document covered layoffs announcements by big companies through October in the states and the District of Columbia This analysis tracks the layoff location based on either the corporate headquarters or the actual sites of the cuts if mentioned in the layoff news release California-related layoff plans in the first months of account for of the million layoffs broadcasted across the U S Challenger expects this year to be the nation s worst for this layoff yardstick since the Great Recession era minus s pandemic-scarred economic system The national layoff hotspot was Washington D C with After California came New York with followed by Georgia with and Washington state with As for California s economic rivals Texas ranked seventh with planned cuts and Florida ranked ninth with planned cuts Who s cutting A handful of industries dominate the list of layoff plans Start with massive ruling body job cuts primarily in the District of Columbia as the Trump administration aggressively shrinks the federal payroll RELATED Tech companies chop -plus more Bay Area jobs in new layoff rounds Nationwide Challenger revealed that disclosed layoff plans for all governing body workers totaled in the first months of the largest cut in any industry and up or in the past year The next three shrinking industries have deep ties to California Mechanism had cuts communicated nationwide up or Warehousing had up or And retail had cuts up or Growing cuts California-centric layoffs rose by in a year from the first months of That s the fifth biggest jump and of the nationwide increase of The largest increase was in D C at followed by Georgia with an increase of and New Jersey at Florida was No up Texas had the largest decline down followed by Rhode Island down and Nevada down The California bump looks less egregious on a percentage-point basis ranking No with a increase Nationwide these cuts grew by The biggest percentage jumps were in Alaska at yes it grew almost -fold followed by Maine up and D C up Florida was No at The largest dips were in Wyoming down followed by Rhode Island down and Nevada down Texas was No off Job chill The layoffs are further proof of a cooling financial market Challenger only tracks layoff plans of big companies The U S Bureau of Labor Statistics follows actual layoffs and discharges which include firings at companies of all sizes Through July the latest numbers available the BLS announced that million Californians had been laid off or discharged representing a increase a jump compared with the first seven months of Nationwide these job cuts totaled million in the same timeframe a increase of in a year And the shaky employment picture is why the Federal Reserve has shifted its focus from cooling problematic inflation to supporting the job arena The central bank made two cuts in the past two months in the interest rates it controls Slow hiring Challenger also tracks hiring announcements on a national basis It s not pretty So far in big companies have released plans to hire which is lower than and down from the median hires of the previous nine years And seasonal hiring plans have been modest at countless companies that supply the holiday spirit from retailers to shippers Expected year-end staffing increases are down in a year Merchants are seeing this wobbly job sector help to depress consumer confidence The Conference Board s optimism indicators have decreased by statewide and by nationwide over the past year Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group He can be reached at jlansner scng com