Dive Brief:
Financial difficulties pushed 78% of U.S.-based HR leaders to conduct multiple rounds of layoffs within the past year, according to the results of a July survey by outplacement firm Careerminds, with many stating they oversaw “serial layoffs” that occurred in rapid succession.The survey of 600 respondents found that 75% of reported layoffs occurred within less than six months of one another, and 40% of HR leaders said layoffs happened quarterly at their organizations. Financial instability constituted the biggest driver of job cuts, followed by changing business priorities, market disruption and post-pandemic overstaffing.Careerminds said the trend is one tending towards “reactive workforce management,” noting that nearly half of respondents said their organizations rehired up to a quarter of laid off roles within a year of the decision to cut. A similar share of HR leaders saw a significant decline in morale following layoffs, and more than one-third reported a loss of critical skills.
Dive Insight:
Economic uncertainty has tilted the job market in employers’ favor, evidenced by reports of elevated layoffs throughout 2025. Like Careerminds, fellow outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas last month reported a sharp increase in job cuts, finding that July’s layoff numbers increased 140% from a year prior.
Employers have attributed layoffs to a multitude of factors, but economic uncertainty is a running theme. Challenger, for example, said that the combination of tariffs, inflation and economic uncertainty contributed to layoffs especially in the retail, automotive and nonprofit sectors. And a recent Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll survey similarly found that 83% of hiring managers took preemptive measures in anticipation of a recession, including layoffs.
Artificial intelligence is a growing concern, too. An earlier Challenger analysis determined that some employers had begun attributing their 2025 layoffs to AI, and an executive for the firm said companies may have couched AI-caused cuts under the more general term of “technological update” so as not to draw attention to the actual cause.
But employers that point to AI as a reason for layoffs may have regrets. In April, software platform Orgvue found that, among leaders who said they laid off workers after deploying AI, more than half said their decisions were a mistake. Orgvue’s survey noted that many respondents’ self-reported lack of AI expertise inhibited successful deployment of the tech.
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The trend is one tending towards “reactive workforce management,” rather than long-term planning