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U.S. companies kicked off the year with the most job cuts in any January since 2009, during the height of the Great Recession.

Companies announced more than 108,000 job cuts last year, according to data by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. (In 2009, nearly 242,000 job cuts were announced.) The January 2026 number also represents an 118% increase from job cuts in January 2025, signaling how significant things have changed in just one year. 

“Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in the first quarter, but this is a high total for January,” Andy Challenger, the company’s chief revenue officer, said in a press report. “It means most of these plans were set at the end of 2025, signaling employers are less-than-optimistic about the outlook for 2026.”

The firm’s report also showed that companies’ hiring plans sunk by 13% compared to the same time last year. They were down a whopping 49% from plans just one month before in December 2025. In