![In long-awaited cuts just months after completing its $8 billion merger with Skydance, Paramount plans to lay off about 2,000 employees [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS](https://newspage360.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2025-11-20T172946Z_810372646_RC2RBDAZS27R_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-FEDERAL-WORKERS-1068x601.jpg "In long-awaited cuts just months after completing its $8 billion merger with Skydance, Paramount plans to lay off about 2,000 employees [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS")
Key Takeaways
- Major companies across sectors are implementing significant workforce reductions
- Economic uncertainty, corporate restructuring, and AI investments drive layoffs
- Government shutdown has created data gaps in employment reporting
- Unemployment rose to 4.4% in September with concerning demographic disparities
Major corporations are implementing widespread layoffs, creating heightened anxiety among workers across multiple industries. The job market faces a challenging period with companies citing economic pressures, restructuring, and shifting investment priorities as key drivers.
Economic Context and Market Pressures
Businesses have reached a “no-hire, no fire” standstill amid economic uncertainty, limiting new hiring to specific roles or pausing openings entirely. Companies point to rising operational costs from tariffs, shifts in consumer spending, and broader corporate restructuring. Many are redirecting funds toward artificial intelligence investments.
Federal employees face additional uncertainty, with thousands of government jobs cut earlier this year. The record 43-day government shutdown left many working without paychecks and created significant gaps in economic data.
Concerning Employment Trends
The Labor Department’s delayed September report showed employers added 119,000 jobs, but unemployment rose to 4.4%. Revised data revealed the economy actually lost 4,000 jobs in August. Women accounted for only 21,000 of September’s added jobs, while Black women over age 20 saw unemployment climb to 7.5%.
The government confirms it won’t release a full October jobs report due to shutdown-related data collection issues.
Major Company Layoffs
Telecommunications & Retail
- Verizon: 13,000+ layoffs to simplify operations and “reorient” the company
- Amazon: 14,000 corporate jobs (4% of workforce) as company shifts spending to AI
- Target: 1,800 corporate positions eliminated globally (8% of corporate workforce)
Automotive & Manufacturing
- General Motors: 1,700 workers across Michigan and Ohio plants due to slowing EV demand
- United Parcel Service: 48,000 job cuts this year amid shipping output changes
Media & Entertainment
- Paramount: 2,000 employees (10% of workforce) post-Skydance merger, plus 1,600 positions from international divestitures
Technology & Pharmaceuticals
- Microsoft: 6,000 layoffs in May, followed by 9,000 more months later – the largest cuts in over two years
- Intel: Thousands of positions eliminated, reducing from 99,500 to 75,000 core employees
- Novo Nordisk: 9,000 jobs (11% of workforce) as company restructures amid competition for obesity and diabetes drugs
Other Industries
- Nestlé: 16,000 global job cuts over two years due to rising commodity costs and tariffs
- Lufthansa: 4,000 jobs by 2030 through AI adoption and consolidation
- ConocoPhillips: Up to 3,250 workers (25% of workforce) by end of 2025
- Procter & Gamble: 7,000 jobs over two years (6% of global workforce) amid restructuring and tariff pressures
