Bad news for Trump’s economy: Andy Challenger reported on layoffs: “The highest total for October in over 20 years
Despite what Trump says, the economy is not thriving during his second term.
Santa is real! He is! I’ve seen him! Repeat it all you like, Donald, it’s not true. He will constantly tell you otherwise, but Trump genuinely believes that the US is not going through a job market slump.
The latest data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas paints the true picture for the US job market: in October 2025, companies announced 153,074 job cuts, marking the worst October for layoffs in more than two decades.
It’s the largest total since 2003, and it signals that the once-booming labour market, often cited as a pillar of Trump’s economic success, is showing some serious cracks.
Only 21% of Americans are confident they could find a job in Trump's economy. These tariffs are killing small businesses across the country and freezing investment in the economy, which is why nobody is hiring. This is a crisis, and the GOP is in complete denial. pic.twitter.com/3cSXr9tfuu
— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) October 20, 2025
“Those laid off now are finding it harder to quickly secure new roles”
The spike in layoffs is not just a small dip in the figures. Compared to the same month a year earlier, job cuts surged by more than 175 percent. In total, US employers have announced around 1.09 million job cuts since the start of the year, up roughly 65 percent from 2024.
“October’s pace of job cutting was much higher than average for the month,” Challenger revealed in a statement. “Some industries are correcting after the hiring boom of the pandemic, but this comes as AI adoption, softening consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs drive belt-tightening and hiring freezes,” the statement continued. “Those laid off now are finding it harder to quickly secure new roles, which could further loosen the labor market.”
There are several forces behind this sudden wave of layoffs you can thank Trump for: “Cost-cutting” alone accounted for over 50,000 job losses in October, while another 31,000 were tied directly to - wait for it - AI-related ‘restructuring’.
In terms of which industry has been hit the hardest, that unfortunate title goes to the tech industry, which saw 33,000 cuts in October. Warehousing and logistics saw an even sharper rise, with nearly 48,000 layoffs as firms adjusted to lower shipping volumes and shifts in consumer behaviour.
BREAKING: Jerome Powell just made clear that under Donald Trump’s leadership, inflation is rising and the job market is cooling. That’s terrible news. pic.twitter.com/6JmYDuQHfc
— Democratic Wins Media (@DemocraticWins) October 29, 2025
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Politically, these figures certainly pose a problem for Donald Trump’s incessant economic narrative. He has consistently pointed to strong jobs growth as proof that his policies are working, but with layoffs now surging to a two-decade high, he has no room to run: it’s a mess. It remains to be seen whether or not he finally turns the chart round and reads it the right way up. I’m not holding my breath.
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