American employers had announced plans to onboard roughly 50,000 workers through the end of May, half the number of planned hirings announced through the same period last year and the lowest amount in the first five months of any year since 2014, according to a new report from career services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
A help wanted sign in a shop window in San Francisco, California.
Hiring announcements are at their lowest levels in a decade, the firm's latest report said Thursday, with only 50,833 workers planned to be hired so far this year—half of the 101,833 new hires announced through this point last year.
This year's number represents the lowest number of planned hirings since 2014, when 45,512 had been announced through May.
The energy sector is the one with the most planned hirings so far this year, announcing around 10,000 new jobs through May, followed by the aerospace and defense sector at 5,786, industrial goods with 4,714 and technology at 4,095.
Though hiring plans are down from last year, so are layoffs, the firm reported—U.S. employers announced 63,816 job cuts in May for a total of 385,859 job cuts so far this year, which is 7.6% fewer than announced through May of 2023.
Despite the drop in job loss from last year, the first five months of 2024 have still had the third-highest number of job cuts since May 2009 (2020 had the second-highest number).
The technology sector is responsible for the most job cuts so far this year (55,207), followed by the government (36,325) and financial industry (30,058).
The Challenger report says the implementation of artificial intelligence and the job disruption it causes can be to blame, in part, for many companies' cuts. Since May of 2023, companies have cited AI for 5,430 job cuts, the report says.
8.05 million. That's how many available jobs there were in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the lowest level in more than three years. Unemployment claims unexpectedly spiked at the beginning of May and private payroll growth slowed to 152,000 new jobs in May—fewer than the consensus estimate of 175,000—all signs of a cooling labor market.
Despite the slow hiring and job cuts, the unemployment rate is expected to stay at 3.9% when the government releases its monthly jobs report Friday, a near 50-year low. April was the 27th month in a row that the unemployment rate remained below 4%.