Photo by Will Colavito on Unsplash
A number of companies have announced plans to cut hundreds—even thousands—of jobs in January, adding to concerns about the outlook for the American labor force after a rocky end to 2025.
In recent months, some of America’s largest employers—spanning several sectors—announced they will trim headcounts, against a background of technological changes and broader economic headwinds. This has compounded the threats facing U.S. workers, with hiring still slow and the unemployment rate ticking up to its highest level since 2021 in the Department of Labor’s November jobs reading.
According to the latest data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S.-based employers announced 71,321 job cuts last month, bringing 2025’s total to 1.2 million and the highest year-to-date figure since 2020.
In November, the multinational meat company—the largest meat supplier in the U.S. by sales—said it would be shutting down a beef processing plant in Lexington, Nebraska after more than two decades in operation. The closure, set to complete next month, will result in around 3,200 job losses.
Additionally, Tyson Foods said it would be reducing operations at its Amarillo, Texas beef facility, impacting a further 1,700 employees.
The courier and logistics giant announced in November that it would be closing a facility in Coppell, Texas, resulting in phased layoffs of 856 employees. These are expected to begin in late January, with operations at the facility ending in April.
Though this comes amid its Network 2.0 large-scale restructuring strategy, FedEx said the decision was entirely due to a third-party logistics client moving its business to a new location and switching to another company.
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