Layoffs across major U.S. companies are picking up pace, signalling a tougher employment environment as businesses continue to reassess costs and staffing needs.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, recent job cuts at companies such as Amazon, UPS, Dow, and Mastercard point to a broader trend of corporate retrenchment.
Many companies that aggressively expanded their workforce during the pandemic are now trimming headcount to correct what executives see as organisational bloat.
This reset is no longer limited to startups or weaker firms but has spread to some of the biggest and most profitable corporations in the country.
The impact has been especially severe in the technology and logistics sectors.
Together, these two industries accounted for nearly 250,000 of the estimated 1.2 million jobs lost in 2025 so far.
Once seen as engines of endless growth, both sectors are now under pressure from slowing demand, efficiency drives, and tighter cost controls.
What remains largely unspoken, however, is the growing role of artificial intelligence in reshaping the workforce.
Economists at Goldman Sachs have estimated that AI-driven automation could lead to as many as 20,000 job cuts every month this year.
While companies rarely cite AI directly when announcing layoffs, its influence is increasingly felt in back-office functions, customer support, data processing, and even parts of software development.
The accelerating pace of layoffs suggests that the job market correction is far from over. For workers, especially in tech-heavy roles, uncertainty remains high.
For companies, the focus has clearly shifted from rapid hiring to efficiency, automation, and leaner operations; marking a significant change from the post-pandemic boom years.