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By Hugh Cameron
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A number of companies have announced plans to cut hundreds—even thousands—of jobs in January, adding to concerns about the outlook for the American labor force after a rocky end to 2025.
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Why It Matters
In recent months, some of America’s largest employers—spanning several sectors—announced they will trim headcounts, against a background of technological changes and broader economic headwinds. This has compounded the threats facing U.S. workers, with hiring still slow and the unemployment rate ticking up to its highest level since 2021 in the Department of Labor’s November jobs reading.
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According to the latest data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S.-based employers announced 71,321 job cuts last month, bringing 2025’s total to 1.2 million and the highest year-to-date figure since 2020.
Which Companies Are Laying Off Employees Next Month?
Tyson Foods
In November, the multinational meat company—the largest meat supplier in the U.S. by sales—said it would be shutting down a beef processing plant in Lexington, Nebraska after more than two decades in operation. The closure, set to complete next month, will result in around 3,200 job losses.
Additionally, Tyson Foods said it would be reducing operations at its Amarillo, Texas beef facility, impacting a further 1,700 employees.
FedEx
The courier and logistics giant announced in November that it would be closing a facility in Coppell, Texas, resulting in phased layoffs of 856 employees. These are expected to begin in late January, with operations at the facility ending in April.
Though this comes amid its Network 2.0 large-scale restructuring strategy, FedEx said the decision was entirely due to a third-party logistics client moving its business to a new location and switching to another company.
General Motors
According to WARN Act notices filed in November, 1,140 General Motors employees will be let go from the company’s Factory Zero site in Detroit, Michigan on January 5.
In a filing with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, General Motors said the cuts would be permanent, affect several roles, and stemmed from adjustments related to the slower-than-expected adoption of electric vehicles.
What People Are Saying
Economist and MIT professor Daron Acemoglu, speaking to Newsweek in October about the impacts of AI on employment in 2026, said: "I don't think we are at the cusp of mass unemployment. AI models have many limitations, and while there will be companies such as Amazon that will attempt to organize work to get more out of AI and reduce their headcount, at the macroeconomic level things will go more slowly."
Desmond Lachman, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told Newsweek: "There are two fundamental reasons to be concerned about the U.S. labor market in the run up to next year’s midterm elections. The first is the likely overall state of the U.S. economy. The second is the increased pace at which the application of Artificial Intelligence is likely to displace white collar workers."
"It seems that Artificial Intelligence is already contributing to a freezing of entry level hiring and is causing white collar layoffs especially in clerical, customer service, data and IT support, and general back-office legal and financial service jobs," he added. "My expectation is that these trends will pick up pace next year as advances in AI continue and become more integrated in the economy."
What Happens Next
Many other companies have set out on long-term cost-reduction plans that will continue into the new year, such as Amazon and HP. According to a September survey of U.S. business leaders from Resume.org, 58 percent said layoffs were very or somewhat likely in 2026, due to both trade policy pressures as well as broader economic uncertainty.
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