Dive Brief:
- Artificial intelligence was the leading cause of U.S. layoff announcements in March, accounting for roughly a quarter of the total, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in a report Thursday.
- Overall, U.S. employers announced 60,620 job cuts last month, a 25% increase compared with February, the report found. The month’s total included 15,341 layoffs attributed to AI.
- “Companies are shifting budgets toward AI investments at the expense of jobs,” Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at the Chicago-based firm, said in the report. “The actual replacing of roles can be seen in technology companies, where AI can replace coding functions. Other industries are testing the limits of this new technology, and while it can’t replace jobs completely, it is costing jobs.”
Dive Insight:
The tech industry announced 18,720 job cuts in March, more than any other sector, bringing its first-quarter 2026 totals to 52,050, a 40% increase from a year earlier, according to the research. It marks the highest first-quarter total since 2023, when the sector recorded 102,391 cuts, the outplacement firm said.
Dell said last month that its headcount stood at 97,000 employees as of Jan. 30, 2026. That’s down from 108,000 a year earlier.
“Throughout fiscal 2026, we remained committed to disciplined cost management in coordination with our ongoing business modernization initiatives and continued to take certain measures to reduce costs, including employee reorganizations, limitation of external hiring and other actions to align our investments with our announced strategic and customer priorities,” the company said in a 10-K filing.
“These actions resulted in a continued reduction in our overall headcount. Despite these difficult decisions, we continue focused efforts to empower our employees and attract, develop and retain talent,” Dell added.
Oracle and Meta are among other tech giants that announced layoffs in March, the Challenger report noted. “More layoffs are likely to come from technology companies in 2026,” it said.
Despite the monthly surge, job cuts were down 78% in March on a year-over-year basis.
Government-related layoffs have declined sharply, with 2,270 layoffs announced year to date compared with 279,445 a year earlier, when the Department of Government Efficiency was a leading reason cited for cuts.
The latest report showed hiring plans rose sharply in March to 32,826, up 157% from February and 149% compared with a year earlier, though year-to-date hiring remains slightly below last year’s levels at 50,887 compared with 53,867 in 2025.
Besides AI, major drivers of layoffs last month included closings, organizational restructuring and economic conditions.
