Blog
Job Layoffs Surge in First Quarter, Resulting in Worst Quarter in a Decade
April 8, 2019
While last month’s solid job growth numbers showed that the economy was adding jobs at a healthy clip, it is also shedding them at a worrying pace. 2019 saw the most layoffs in the first quarter since 2009—when the nation was dealing with the fallout from the financial crisis—according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gary and Christmas.
There were 190,410 layoffs in the first three months of the year. This a 10.3 percent increase over the previous quarter and a 35.6 percent increase over the first quarter of 2018. The firm’s report noted that concerns about an economic slowdown were the main cause of layoffs.
