Employers in the U.S. laid off 275,240 employees in March, a 60% increase from the previous month and a 205% increase from March 2024, according to a new report Thursday from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Andrew Challenger said the layoffs were dominated by positions in the federal government being eliminated by the Department of Government Efficiency.
“It would have otherwise been a fairly quiet month for layoffs,” Challenger, the senior vice president for Challenger, Gray & Christmas said.
DOGE, which is overseen by tech mogul Elon Musk, has laid off 280,253 federal workers and contractors, impacting 27 agencies, according to tracking by Challenger. Another 4,429 job cuts have resulted from cutting federal aid or ending contracts, impacting mostly nonprofits and health organizations.
March’s total is the third-highest monthly total ever recorded, Challenger said, trailing two months impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Employers have announced 497,052 job cuts this year, the highest year-to-date total since the economic recession of 2009.
Job cuts in the federal government increased 672% from first quarter 2024, Challenger said.
Due to the DOGE cuts, the Eastern region of the United States experienced a 277% year-over-year increase in overall job cuts from 94,406 to 355,992. Washington, D.C., saw the largest increase from 34,120 in the first quarter of 2024 to 278,711 in 2025.
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