A fresh round of job cuts by major American companies has sparked renewed concern about the health of the U.S. labour market, as the Federal Reserve weighs its next move on interest rates.
Amazon announced on Tuesday that it will cut 14,000 jobs, citing a strategic shift toward artificial intelligence. On the same day, delivery giant UPS confirmed that its workforce has shrunk by 48,000 compared with a year earlier.
The layoffs continued Wednesday as Paramount Skydance, owner of CBS News, said it would shed staff in an ongoing cost-cutting effort.
Retailer Target also disclosed plans to eliminate more than 800 jobs in January as part of a broader corporate restructuring, after announcing last week that it would cut 1,800 corporate positions in total.
The timing of these layoffs is notable. Federal labour reports remain suspended due to the government shutdown, leaving the Fed without fresh data on hiring trends as it prepares to decide on interest rates. Chair Jerome Powell previously cited slowing job growth as a key factor behind the central bank’s first rate cut of 2025.
John Challenger, CEO of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, said the scale of the layoffs signals “a period of real change in the economy.” U.S. employers have already announced nearly 950,000 job cuts this year through September, the highest number since 2020.
Despite the recent turbulence, the unemployment rate remains relatively low at 4.3 percent. Economists caution, however, that the slowdown in hiring means displaced workers may find it harder to secure new positions.
“The larger corporate downsizings are happening at a time when there are not many job openings,” said Andy Stettner of the Century Foundation. “That could push long-term unemployment even higher in the months ahead.”
