Outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported 85,979 U.S. jobs were cut in August, and the company indicated retailers might not be staffing up as much as usual for the holiday season.
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics just published August job figures showing little employment growth generally and at retail.
According to Challenger, retailers have announced 83,656 job cuts through August, up 242% from the 24,489 cuts announced during the eight months last year.
Retailers have been hit hard by tariffs, inflation and ongoing economic uncertainty, causing bankruptcies and closures, Challenger noted. If tariffs and consumer spending constraints continue, the approaching holiday shopping season could see fewer seasonal hires and even significant layoffs, the company indicated.
Overall, August total job cuts were up 39% from the 62,075 announced in July, Challenger maintained, and up 13% from the 75,891 announced in the month last year. August’s total was the highest for the month since 2020, when employers cut 115,762 positions. With 2020 exempt, the August total is the highest for the month since the Great Recession in 2008, Challenger indicated, when 88,736 cuts were announced. August 2025 was the sixth instance this year of a job cut total surpassing that of the corresponding month a year prior.
So far this year, companies have announced 892,362 job cuts, the highest year to date since 2020, when employers announced just short of 2 million. The total job losses are up 66% from the 536,421 cuts announced through the first eight months of last year and up 17% from the 2024 full-year total of 761,358.
On September 5, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced that, in the balance between layoffs and hirings, total nonfarm payroll employment was largely unchanged in August, up just 22,000. Employment has changed little since April, BLS pointed out, and the unemployment rate, at 4.3%, remained steady in August. Retail employment held steady as well. Job losses in the Federal government, mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector partially offset gains in health care.
In another reading, The Conference Board Employment Trends Index declined in August to 106.41, from a downwardly revised 107.13 in July. An index of 100 is based on 2016 numbers for comparative purposes. The Trends Index is based on a composite of payroll employment. When the index increases, employment is likely to grow and vice versa, the Conference Board asserted.
“The ETI slid further in August, reaching its lowest level since early 2021,” Mitchell Barnes, Conference Board economist, stated. “The ETI peaked two or three years ago and has been falling ever since, where the decline likely captured normalization of the distorted post-pandemic labor market, not weakness. However, the degree of weakness among August’s components is disconcerting.”
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index for August fell 1.3 points to 97.4, down from 98.7 in July, revised up by 1.5 points. The Present Situation Index, based on consumer assessment of current business and labor market conditions, slipped by 1.6 points to 131.2. The Expectations Index, based on consumer short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, declined by 1.2 points to 74.8. An index reading of 100 is the dividing line between positive and negative sentiments.
