Layoffs drop by 63% in March, the biggest decrease in 12 months [April 1, 2021 Update]

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Rob Kelly

Co-Founder and CEO at Ongig

I am a 3-time CEO, author and proud father of my preemie baby Maverick! We created Ongig to transform your job descriptions to boost quality candidates and diversity. Ongig supercharges your job pages through video, images, chat, social sharing, microsite creation and much more. Jobs can be more easily found through Artificial Intelligence-based job search and all pages are Mobile and SEO- optimized. Ongig also analyzes the text of your JDs and our pro copywriting team will rewrite your job descriptions. Early clients of Ongig include Salesforce, Yelp, GoDaddy, Verizon, Intel & Autodesk. Request a demo if you'd like to chat about partnering!

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April 1, 2021 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from March 2021:

Ongig’s Talent Airport showed a decrease in layoffs compared to February, the biggest drop since we start tracking a year ago.

• March’s reported layoffs decreased by 63.75% compared to February. The biggest drop we’ve seen in 12 months!
• Total reported layoffs — In March we recorded a total of 12,917 reported layoffs.
• 10 Largest layoffs last month — El Corte Ingles (3,292), YMCA of San Diego (2,000), SFR (1,700), Cenovus/Husky Energy (1,000), Tata Technologies (800), ON Semiconductor (740), Sinclair Broadcast Group (460), All About Parking (315), Newport News Shipbuilding (314), GSK (300) 
• Companies with unreported layoff numbers — Nike, IBM, CVS, MEL Magazine
• A list of laid-off talent — These talented reporters were named in a tweet from @ohheyjenna, Senior Editor @huffpost

Here’s our monthly trendline chart.

March 1, 2021 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from February 2021:

Ongig’s Talent Airport showed an increase in layoffs compared to January, after 4 months of trending down.

• Layoffs increased by 59%  — February’s reported layoffs increased by 59.95%  compared to January. The percentage is higher, but a few companies didn’t report their actual layoff numbers.
• Total reported layoffs — In February we recorded a total of 34,681 reported layoffs.
• 10 Largest layoffs last month — American Airlines (13,000), Shell (9,000), Best Buy (5,000), ExxonMobil (1,900), Boeing (600), Amgen (500), Siemens Energy (500), Vestas Wind System (450), WestJet (415), Huntington Ingalls Industries (350)
• Companies with unreported layoff numbers — DJI Technologies, MLB, Smucker’s, and Fry’s Electronics.

Here’s our monthly trendline chart.

February 1, 2021 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from January 2021:

Ongig’s Talent Airport showed the lowest number of monthly layoffs since the pandemic began. And the trendline has pointed down for 4 straight months!

• Layoffs decreased by 36%  — January’s reported layoffs decreased by 36.09%  compared to December. But this does not include the 12+ companies who didn’t report their actual layoff numbers.
• Total reported layoffs — In January we recorded a total of 21,683 reported layoffs.
• 10 Largest layoffs last month — Cenovus/Husky Energy (2,150), TikTok India (2,000), Air Canada (1,900), Instacart (1,877), Raytheon (1,500), State Street (1,200), Navajo Nation Casino (1,100), WestJet (1,000), KLM Airlines (1,000), Puesto (600).
• 10 Companies with unreported layoff numbers — Oracle, Citigroup/Citibank, American Express, IBM, Newsday, Verizon Wireless, Collins Aerospace, Air Transat, Bell Media, & Ulta.
• 4 companies posted layoff lists — Dropbox, Kasasa, Simple & Azlo, and Aura all posted lists of their laid-off talent up for grabs. These talented individuals have backgrounds in recruiting & HR, product design, engineering, finance, marketing, and client success.

Here’s our monthly trendline chart. Although the trendline has pointed down since October 2020, the hardest hit industries are still seeing large layoffs (e.g., Travel & Hospitality).

January 4, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through December 31, 2020.

Highlights & Observations from December 2020:

• COVID layoffs are trending down — Reported layoffs decreased during October, November, and December causing the trendline to point down for the first time ever.

December 1, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from November 2020:

• Layoffs decreased by 16.58%  — November’s reported layoffs decreased by 16.58%  compared to October. But this does not include the 10+ companies who didn’t report their actual layoff numbers.
• Total reported layoffs — In November we recorded a total of 65,986 reported layoffs.
• 10 Largest layoffs last month — Disneyland (34,000), IBM (10,000), NYMTA (9,300), San Francisco MTA (1,200), Universal Orlando (1,123), Lettuce Entertain You (1,045), Hitachi Vantara (1,000), Warner Media (1,000), ING (1,000), Nike (700), Goldman Sachs (595).
• 10 Companies with unreported layoff numbers — iHeartMedia, Epsilon, USGamer, Igneous, NBCUniversal, Lexmark, LA Dodgers, Amazon Prime Air, Vonage, and Philadelphia Phillies.

Here’s our monthly trendline chart. As the COVID numbers continue to rise, there is talk of more restrictions, business closures, and layoffs.

November 2, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from October 2020:

• Layoffs decreased by 49.9%  — October’s reported layoffs decreased by 49.9%  compared to September.
• Total reported layoffs — In October we recorded a total of 79,099 reported layoffs.
• Largest layoffs last month –American Airlines (19,000), Raytheon (15,000), United Airlines (13,000), Disney World (11,000), Boeing (7,000), Marathon Petroleum (2,050), Charles Schwab (1,000).

Here’s our monthly trendline chart.

Even though we saw layoff numbers drop overall in October, layoffs are still happening across multiple industries.

One of the most affected is travel.  Airlines, fuel companies, and entertainment venues like Disney World and Six Flags are seeing multiple rounds of layoffs due to losses related to COVID travel restrictions.

Other industries with continued layoffs are healthcare, media, food services, financial services, sports, tech, and retail.

October 5, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from September 2020:

• Layoffs increased by 456%  — Last week’s reported layoffs increased by 456.99% compared to the previous week, making this the biggest week of publicly-announced layoffs since we started tracking in March.
• Largest month of reported layoffs — In September we recorded a total of 157,893 reported layoffs, the most ever.
• Largest layoffs last month — Continental AG (30,000), Disney (28,000), American Airlines (19,000), Kohls (18,300), United Airlines (13,000), Blue Cross Blue Shield (10,710), Shell (9,000), Raytheon (8,000), Singapore Airlines (4,300), Allstate (3,800).

We’ve been tracking publicly-announced COVID layoffs since March 20th. Here’s a trendline chart that shows the changes. You can see the trend is still pointing up. We’re not out of this yet!

COVID Layoffs by Week (through October 5, 2020)

Note: We have been tracking weekly layoffs and will continue to, but will only be posting monthly updates moving forward. 

September 28, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs decreased by 40%  — Last week’s reported layoffs decreased by 40.80% compared to the previous week.
• Unreported Layoff Numbers — At least 2 companies did not report their layoffs, so the actual numbers are higher. (Carnival Cruise Lines & Allstate Insurance)
• Largest Layoffs Reported — Blue Cross Blue Shield (10,710), Ralph Lauren (3,600), Huwaei (1,000), Century 21 (855), United Laundry Services (826).
• More large layoffs looming — As Congress works to approve another COVID relief bill, companies in the travel, hospitality, and government industries anticipate even more layoffs.
• Talent Available — Drafted’s Talent Feed is a real-time talent list that includes candidates looking for work. Find candidates by searching for recent job titles and locations. This growing list can be found in the “Other Cool Resources” tab on Talent Airport along with loads of other lists and resources.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through September 28, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through September 28, 2020)

September 14, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs decreased by 59%  — Last week’s reported layoffs decreased by 59.62% compared to the previous week.
• Unreported Layoff Numbers — 3 companies did not report their layoffs, so the actual numbers are higher. (Seaworld Orlando, Cleary Gottlieb, and Swing Education)
• Largest Layoffs Reported — Singapore Airlines (4,300), Transat AT Inc. (2,000), Marriot (673), Regional Transport District RTD (635), Under Armour (600).
• New “Talent Available” — Singapore-based internet company, GoBear, published a list of their laid-off talent last week. These talented individuals have backgrounds in operations, engineering, account management, and graphic design.  This list of talented individuals is in Talent Airport’s “Other Cool Resources” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through September 13, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through September 13, 2020)

September 7, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs decreased by 68%  — Last week’s reported layoffs decreased by 68.2% compared to the previous week.
• No Sign of Peaking — The last 2 weeks showed 100,195 layoffs, about equal to the previous SIX weeks of layoffs report (101,228). The trend line is still pointing up.
• Largest Layoffs Reported — United Airlines (16,370), Amtrak (2,050), Ford (1,400), JUUL Labs (1,200), Hawaiian Airlines (989).
• Media, Marketing & Law Layoffs — Akerna (250), Big Fish Games (250), Skadden (120), Baker McKenzie (51).
• New “Talent Available” — Layoffs.fyi has a list of laid-off startup employees together in one place. This list of talented individuals specializes in a wide range of job families like engineering, marketing, people, operations, IT, and design. You can find a link to this list is in the “Other Cool Resources” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through September 6, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through September 6, 2020)

August 31, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs increased by 1,340%  — Last week’s reported layoffs increased by a huge percentage (1,340.08%) compared to the previous week.
• Over 76,000 Reported Layoffs — There were 76,022 reported layoffs last week. Coca-Cola Co. did not disclose its number of layoffs, so the actual increase would be even higher.
• Largest Layoffs Reported — Accenture (25,000), American Airlines (19,000), MGM Resorts (18,000), British Airways (10,500).
• New “Talent Available” — Glide Apps (by Google Sheets) shared a cool app that allows you to search their Awesome People/available talent list by name or by job title. This list of talented individuals is in the “Other Cool Resources” tab.
• Layoffs Spike — We have been hearing murmurs of another layoff spike and according to the Wall Street Journal, even more layoffs may be in sight for previously furloughed employees.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through August 30, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through August 30, 2020)

August 24, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs increased by 34%  — Last week’s reported layoffs increased by 34.87% compared to the previous week. 5 companies did not report their layoffs, so the actual increase is much higher. (Wells Fargo, LECOM Fitness, Arizona Coyotes, DJI Technology & Boeing)
• Largest Layoffs Reported — Estee Lauder (2,000), Orlando Airport (2,000), Wells Fargo (Thousands – Unconfirmed #)
• Layoffs vs. Furloughs — Companies like RTI International announced smaller layoffs (50) but furloughed larger numbers of staff (1,200). The trends tell us many furloughs may become layoffs if things do not improve.
• New “Talent Available” — Computer Software company, Mozilla, published a list of their laid-off talent last week. These talented individuals have backgrounds in operations, IT, legal, finance, marketing, and engineering.  This list of talented individuals is in the “Other Cool Resources” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through August 23, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through August 23, 2020)

August 17, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs decrease by 65%  — Last week’s reported layoffs decreased by 65.15% compared to the previous week. However, 4 companies did not report their layoffs, so the actual numbers are unknown. (Cisco Systems, HopSkipDrive, VMWare, and University of Wisconsin System)
• Largest Layoffs Reported — McCarran Airport (940), WarnerMedia (600), Carlisle Interconnect Technologies (595) & Nike (500).
• New “Talent Available” — Texas-based automotive company, The Appraisal Lane, published a list of their laid-off talent last week. These talented individuals have backgrounds in HR and engineering.  This list of talented individuals is in the “Other Cool Resources” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through August 16, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through August 16, 2020)

August 10, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs increase again  — Last week’s reported layoffs increased by 34.94% compared to the previous week. The percentage would have been higher but layoff numbers at Dell, WarnerMedia, Dish Network, and Mozilla were not reported.
• Largest Layoffs Reported — Booking.com (4,375), Alaska Air (1,800), University of Buffalo (1,401) & Microsoft (1,000).
• Travel & Hospitality took another hit last week — M Resort, Wyndham Vacations, Frontier Airlines, Syracuse Airport, Hudson & Expedia all announced layoffs.
• New “Talent Available” — German financial services company Zietgold published a list of their laid-off talent last week. These talented individuals have backgrounds in people & culture, sales, product management, business intelligence, finance, and operations.  This list of talented individuals is in the “Other Cool Resources” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through August 9, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through August 9, 2020)

August 3, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs decrease by 77%  — Last week’s reported layoffs decreased by 77.17% compared to the previous week. However, 6 companies did not report their layoffs, so the actual numbers are unknown. (Walmart, Pared, IPG, Perkbox, Universal Orlando, and Bridgewater Associates)
• Largest Layoffs Reported — Motor City Casino (2,500), Bon Appétit (2,154), ArcelorMittal (877), & LBrands (850).
• Uber also reported another round of layoffs in the Bay Area (167).
• New “Talent Available” — Hospitality company Pared, Consumer Services company Perkbox, and Internet company Checkr published a list of their 65 laid-off talent last week. These talented individuals have backgrounds in marketing, project management, engineering, recruitment, and operations.  Other lists of talented individuals from Indonesian-based internet company Sorabel are in the “Other Cool Resources” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through August 2, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through August 2, 2020)

July 27, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs increase (again) — Last week’s layoffs increased by 1.21% compared to the previous week. The percentage is probably higher because some layoff numbers last week were undisclosed  (Comcast, Oracle & Nike).
• Largest Layoffs — Schlumburger (21,000), Honeywell (9,929), IndiGo (2,400), Linkedin (960).
• University faculty seeing more cuts — University of Akron (100), University of Texas San Antonio (69), University of Michigan (300).
• New “Talent Available” — UK based banking giant Monzo and French internet company Kapten both published a list of their laid-off talent last week. These talented individuals have backgrounds in engineering, marketing, recruitment, product design, backend development, sales & customer success. These lists of talented individuals are in the “Other Cool Resources” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through July 26, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through July 26, 2020)

July 20, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs drop (for now) — Last week’s layoffs decreased by 18.60% compared to the previous week. But many layoff numbers last week were undisclosed  (AT&T, HPE, Snaptravel & Vox Media) and there are still reports of more COVID layoffs to come.
• Largest Layoffs — American Airlines (25,000), Boyd Gaming (2,500), Potawatomi Hotel & Casino (1,600), JCPenny (1,000).
• Wednesday’s layoffs were the largest last week (27,963). These layoffs included media (The Guardian & BBC), retail (JCPenny), hospitality/travel (AA & Marriot), food service (Delaware North), tech (Optimizely), and government (University of Arizona & Missouri state government).
• New “Talent Available” — NY based IT company Andela published the names of 60 of their laid off engineers last week and Yelp added 63 more talented individuals to their list with backgrounds in engineering, marketing, sales & customer success. These lists of talented individuals are in the “Other Cool Resources” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through July 19, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through July 19, 2020)

July 13, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs taking off (again) — Last week’s layoffs increased by 71.39% compared to the previous week. United Airlines layoffs (36,000) on Tuesday marked the biggest cuts since we starting keeping track 17 weeks ago. The layoffs will be phased between now and October.
• Other Large Layoffs — Walgreens UK (4,000), GM (1,250), Penn National Gaming (1,150), Via Rail (1,000), Azul (1,000).
• Tuesday is still trending as the largest layoff day of the week. These large layoffs, along with United Airlines, were all announced on a Tuesday: HSBC (35,000), Airbus (15,000), GE Aviation (13,000), British Airways (12,000), Nissan (10,000).
• New “Talent Available” —  Internet leader Intercom published the names of 36 of their laid off talent last week with a mix of engineering, marketing, design, talent acquisition, customer support, and diversity backgrounds (in SF, Sydney, Denver, Dublin and Remote). These talented individuals are now listed in the “Talent Available” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through July 13, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through July 13, 2020)

July 6, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs climb (again) — Last week’s layoffs increased by more than 11.98% compared to the previous week. The increasing percentage would have been higher, but many company layoffs were undisclosed this week (see below)
• Biggest Layoffs — Airbus (15,000), Nordstrom (6,000), Baha Mar Resort (1,200), Amdocs (1,000).
• Undisclosed layoffs were trending last week — Belk, Microsoft, G2, Boston Herald, Legoland, Whataburger & Whirlpool made layoffs but opted not to share their numbers publicly.
• Tuesday was again the largest layoff day of the week, which included the 15,000 employees to be laid off from Airbus over the next year due to a massive drop in orders for new aircraft.
• New “Talent Available” —  The potential candidate for hire pool is still growing. These talented individuals are listed in the “Talent Available” tab , they include folks from marketing company Sharethrough and available talent lists from Dark & StubHub are also in the “Other Cool Resources” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through July 6, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through July 6, 2020)

June 29, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs are back down (again) — Last week’s layoffs decreased 63.85% compared to the previous week. Although a number of layoffs last week were undisclosed (Atlas Obscura, Sprinklr & Universal Resorts)
• Biggest Layoffs — BMW (6,000), Volvo (4,100), Macy’s (4,000), WestJet (3,333), General Motors (888).
• Media Companies are starting to see more layoffs — Saltwire, Fox Sports, New York Times, and Houston Public Media make up 205 of last week’s layoffs.
• Tuesday still holds the title for the biggest layoff day of the week, but Monday was the biggest day last week with over 8,000 layoffs, BMW’s 4,000 layoffs included. Other Monday layoffs included Intuit (715), Deloitte Australia (700), and Michigan Medicine (738).
• “Talent Available” —  3,063 potential candidates for hire are listed in the “Talent Available” tab , they include folks from almost all departments at Colorado-based IT company Conga. Available talent lists, with hundreds of candidates, from Deliveroo & Grab are also in the “Other Cool Resources” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through June 28, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through June 28, 2020)

June 22, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs jump up (again) — Last week’s layoffs increased 103.91% compared to the previous week. This was the second week in a row with an over 100% increase. Healthcare, Hospitality, Media & Banking are in the mix.
• Biggest Layoffs — HSBC (35,000), Qatar Airways (9,200), 24 Hour Fitness (7,000), AT&T (4,700), Hilton (2,100).
• Cellular Companies & Casinos take a hit — Along with large workforce layoffs at AT&T, T-Mobile (Sprint) laid off an undisclosed number of employees. Casinos also continued to face layoffs last week, Argosy Casino (289), St. Louis County Casinos (750), Ameristar Casinos (150).
• Tuesday still holds the title for the biggest layoff day of the week, but Thursday was the biggest day last week with 35,247 layoffs (due almost entirely to HSBC).
• “Talent Available” —  3,015 potential candidates for hire are listed in the “Talent Available” tab. They include folks from verticals such as online retail (Stockwell) and Financial Services (Earnin) as well as Insurance (Newfront Insurance).

COVID Layoffs by Week (through June 21, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through June 21, 2020)

June 15, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs jump up (again) — Last week’s layoffs increased a whopping 118.02% compared to the previous week. This was the 2nd weekly increase in a row and the worst week in 6 weeks. Startup layoffs have slowed, but other industries are still at risk.
• Biggest Layoffs — BP (10,000), Emirates (7,000), Alaska Air (3,000), Johnson Matthey (2,500), Boyd Gaming, (1,524), Murray Energy (1,500).
• Airline & Energy-related businesses are not the only companies being affected by cuts. Businesses in hospitality (Marriott International – 345), industrial (Precision Castparts – 717), & retail (American Dream Mall – 100), along with museums (San Francisco Museum of Art – 55) & educational institutions (University of Denver – 38) took a hit last week.
• Tuesday is still trending as the biggest layoff day of the week, but Monday and Wednesday were neck-in-neck last week with a total of 20,708 layoffs.
• “Talent Available” —  Over 2,900 potential candidates for hire are listed in the “Talent Available” tab. They include folks from verticals such as healthcare (Parsley Health) and Real Estate (Opendoor) as well as Internet companies like Airbnb and Fountain.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through June 14, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through June 14, 2020)

June 8, 2020 Update

Companies around the world have encountered a rocky road when it comes to pay cuts and layoffs related to COVID-19. The biggest layoffs to date (1,000 and above) are illustrated below.

These companies include Boeing, Groupon, Yelp, GE Aviation, Hyatt Hotels, British Airways, and Airnbnb…among others.

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs are back up (again) — Last week’s layoffs increased 15.85% compared to the previous week. Some say the worst is over, but the numbers still tell a different story.
• Biggest Layoffs — Deloitte (5,000), Bombardier (2,500), Kuwait Airways (1,500), Stitch Fix (1,400).
• The Bay Area continues to be hit with layoffs — Kitty Hawk (70), Credit Sesame (22), Fundbox (14), Lastline (50), Outdoorsy (unknown), Ethos Life (18), and The Athletic (46).
• Tuesday is still trending as the biggest layoff day of the week, but Thursday took the record last week with 5,200 announced layoffs.
• “Talent Available” —  Nearly 2,900 potential candidates for hire listed in the “Talent Available” tab.  Candidates come from high-flying hirers such as JUUL and BREX. These are folks some of you would have paid a search firm $25K to $100K each to hire back in February! Go get ’em!

COVID Layoffs by Week (through June 7, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through June 7, 2020)

June 1, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night:

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs are back down (for how long?) — Last week’s layoffs fell by 41% compared to the previous week. Rumored layoffs are still swirling in the travel, tech, retail, and restaurant industries.
• Biggest Layoffs — Boeing (6,770), McLaren Group (1,200), BaylorScott & White (1,200), Uber India (600).
• Healthcare companies & hospitals are seeing employee reductions despite hospitals being over-crowded during the COVID-19 crisis — Mercy Hospitals laid off employees in St. Loius & Springfield, Missouri. Highmark Health cut 370 jobs in Pennsylvania just five days after 250 employees were laid off at sister company, Allegheny Health Network. All layoffs are due to decreased hospital admission and elective surgeries during the mandated stay at home orders.
• Online retail-based companies Blueprint (137) and Masse (15) announced total company shutdowns and the layoff of their entire staff in the coming months.
• Tuesday is still trending as the biggest layoff day of the week, but Wednesday was the biggest layoff day for the second week in a row, with almost 7,500 layoffs. Wednesday’s cuts included more rounds of layoffs at Boeing (6,770) and Viacom/CBS (50).
• “Talent Available” —  2,700 potential candidates for hire listed in the “Talent Available” tab. There is a collection of links of interest for employers and candidates in the “Other Cool Resources” tab.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through May 31, 2020)

COVID Daily Layoffs (through May 31, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through May 31, 2020)

May 25, 2020 Update

Here are some COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from from Talent Airport (brought to you by Ongig & Friends) through midnight last night:

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs are trending up (again) — Last week’s layoffs increased by 79.31% compared to the previous week. Along with layoffs, pay cuts are on the rise among many top companies like HCA Healthcare, HPE, and Aon. Executive and employee pay cuts range from 15 to 30%, in an effort to save jobs and the bottom line.
• Biggest Layoffs — Rolls Royce (9,000), Uber’s second round (3,000), YMCA Silicon Valley (1,657), Ola (1,400), IBM (Unknown – but said to be in the thousands).
• India Based Companies take a hard hit– Food delivery startups Zomato and Swiggy have laid off over 1,600 employees in the past 2 weeks. WeWork India (100), Livspace (450), and SquareChat (101) all with ties to Silicon Valley saw layoffs last week. All are based in Bengaluru, the “Silicon Valley of India.”
• Global Ridehailing Giants Uber (3,000) and Ola (1,400) see big cuts last week.
• Tuesday is still trending as the biggest layoff day of the week, but Wednesday was the biggest last week with 11,000+ layoffs. Wednesday’s layoffs included UK-based luxury vehicle company Rolls Royce and Bay Area-based companies Intercom, Samsara, and SoFi.
• The talent pool is still growing — If you’re hiring, there are now 2,600+ candidates available in the “Talent Available” tab of Talent Airport. There’s new talent specializing in project management, customer experience, marketing, and more from companies including AirMap, CarGurus, Incredible Health, and Curology.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through May 24, 2020)

COVID Daily Layoffs (through May 24, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through May 24, 2020)

May 18, 2020 Update

Here are the COVID layoff highlights I’m seeing from data from Talent Airport  through midnight last night:

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Layoffs Declining (for now) — Last week’s layoffs declined by almost 59.2% compared to the previous week. It was the lowest weekly layoff total in 6 weeks (since March 30th through April 5th). However, many temporary layoffs are on track to become permanent during the upcoming months (see below). No one can say with certainty that we’ve hit a peak in layoffs.
• Biggest Layoffs — Holland American Line/Princess Cruises (2,000), Bay Area YMCA (1,920), Chase Center (1,720), Ross Stores (1,500).
• Cruise Lines and Airlines Hit Hard — The travel industry is still in danger of increased cuts if summer travelers stay closer to home. Carnival Corporation had 865 layoffs, along with Holland American/Princess Cruises’s 2,000, and the companies are expecting numbers to grow. Air Canada plans to layoff up to 20,000 employees by early June.
• Software Companies are still seeing steady layoffs. Mixpanel (65), Orbital Insight (25), and Submittable (30)
• Tuesday continues to be the hardest hit day of the week, but Friday was the biggest day last week with 6,000+ layoffs including Leggett & Platt, Cars.com, and Cruise.
• Amazing Talent Laid Off! — If you’re hiring, there are now 2,500+ candidates available in the “Talent Available” tab of Talent Airport. There’s new talent specializing in sales, dev, UI and more from companies including Rent the Runway, Kabbage, Namely and Tally.

COVID Layoffs by Week (through May 17, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day (through May 17, 2020)

COVID Layoffs by Day of Week (through May 17, 2020)

May 11, 2020 Update

It was another tough week of COVID layoffs. My thoughts below followed by 3 charts.

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• Trend Line Still Points Up — While last week’s layoffs were a decline versus previous week, the trend line still points up. The data says “We’re not out of this yet!”
• Biggest Layoffs — GE Aviation (13,000), Uber (3,700), Virgin Atlantic (3,000), Halliburton (2,700), Airbnb (1,900) and United Airlines (1,650) made the largest layoffs.
• The “Shared Economy” segment of transportation (Uber (3,700) and Airbnb (1,900)) got hit hard — Lyft (982) was hit the previous week.
• HR Tech continues to see its share of layoffs (Glassdoor (300),and Bullhorn (100) and Workable (25). Greenhouse Software and Lever had layoffs in previous weeks.
• Tuesday (see chart below) continues to be the hardest hit day of the week by far and last week was no different with GE Aviation, Virgin Atlantic and Uber dropping the axe on Tuesday.

COVID Layoffs by Week (from Talent Airport (through May 10, 2020)

source: Talent Airport

COVID Layoffs by Day (from Talent Airport (through May 10, 2020)

source: Talent Airport

COVID Layoffs by Day of the Week (Tuesday is the worst day))

source: Talent Airport

5/4/2020 Update

Last week saw a record week and single day of layoffs. Here’s the daily trend line chart with some additional highlights below. Take care, Rob

COVID Layoffs (from Talent Airport (through May 4, 2020)

May 5, 2020 Update

Last week saw a record week, and single day, for COVID layoffs, according to Talent Airport, Ongig’s free resource to “Find talent and teams being laid-off from Covid in 2020”. Below is the daily trend line chart with some highlights and a couple of my thoughts below that. Take care, Rob

COVID Layoffs (from Talent Airport (through May 3, 2020)

source: Talent Airport

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

Last week saw the worst week yet for COVID layoffs:

• 44,891 total layoffs confirmed last week (up 206% versus previous week)
• Single Worst Day Yet — Wednesday, April 29th saw 22,414 peopled laid off (this was the worst single day yet and more in one day than the entire previous week’s count (14,668)
• Worst Week Yet — The 44,891 laid off last week beat the previous weekly record of 29,966 (April 13-19)
• Airlines Worst Hit — Boeing (16,000), British Airways (12,000) and Air Canada (5,100) saw the largest layoffs
• Amazing Talent Available — 1,921 candidates laid-off are listed in Talent Airport including software engineers and sales people from modern companies like Lime and Zum
• Peak? —  It’s hard to say we’ve hit our peak in layoffs.  So many large companies (think large employers like Walmart, McDonalds, Lowes, Starbucks, Albertsons, etc.) could still have mass layoffs of 10,000 to 50,000 each due to COVID.
• Tuesday Remains Worst Day — Tuesday is by far the worst day of the week for COVID layoffs (33.5% of the layoffs have happened on a Tuesday), according to our data/chart below. Friday and Wednesday are the next worst day.

COVID Layoffs by Day of the Week

April 27, 2020 Update

These COVID layoffs are such an impactful HR event (perhaps the biggest in our lifetime) that I want to now share data from our newly-created Talent Airport on a weekly basis.

First off, here’s the daily trendline of number of layoffs since we began tracking March 20th:

COVID Layoffs (from Talent Airport (through April 27, 2020)

source: Talent Airport

Highlights & Observations from Last Week:

• There were 14,668 layoffs for the week (a 51% decline versus the previous week and the first week to week decline since we began tracking). However, the overall trend line still points up.
• 36 (# of new companies laying off people last week)
• 1,837 Candidates Now on Talent Airport! — If you’re hiring, go check out the “Talent Available” tab of Talent Airport. There are some amazing candidates there including highly-sought-after tech talent from companies I know personally like Splash (NYC) and Swing Education (Bay Area).
• Automotive hardest hit (Hertz (10,000 layoffs), Enterprise (743) and CarMax (634) had large layoffs last week.
• Tuesdays and Fridays are Highest Layoff Days– Check out the chart below. Tuesday and Friday are by far the highest layoff days since we began tracking. Note: folks in HR are often taught to lay people off on Friday to give them the weekend to process the news and also to make payroll (which often ended on a Friday) easier. 

COVID Layoffs by Day of the Week (Tuesday and Friday are Highest)

source: Talent Airport

April 21, 2020 Update [1 Month In]

Yesterday marked the first month since Talent Airport (powered by Ongig) began tracking confirmed COVID layoffs. The first layoffs we heard about were Textio and Amplero on March 20th and were quickly followed by Cisco, DICE, Hitachi Vantara and others.

We’ve done our best to track major confirmed layoffs every day since then.

Below is a chart of the daily layoffs totals through April 20th. For more details (names of candidates let go and names of employers with # of people laid-off, visit Talent Airport.

COVID Layoff Trendline (from Talent Airport through April 28, 2020 (1 Month In)

# of people laid-off related to COVID. Source: Talent Airport powered by Ongig & friends.

Disclaimer: The above Talent Airport data is not meant to be comprehensive. Many, many more people have been laid-off (e.g. there are more than 3 million people who have filed for unemployment) than the 62,166 we’ve tracked so far. The ones we track are confirmed by the employer or a credible news source and this data is meant to give you a general direction for layoff trends.

My Observations

• Layoff Trendline Pointing Up — The layoff trendline (the horizontal grey line) is pointing up meaning that it could get worse before it gets better.
• Massive Single-Employer with Huge Layoffs — Single employers can really move the needle. Under Armour (6,700), Sephora (3,000), Groupon (2,800), Weatherford (6,000), Peace Corps (7,300) and Yelp (1,000) all had 1,000+ layoffs.
• Amazing Talent Now Available — 1,300+ candidates laid-off are listed in Talent Airport. Some of the hardest talent to find (pre-COVID) are now available such as Data Scientists, Data Engineers, Robotics Engineers, Salesforce Engineers and salespeople. Many of these candidates come from top-tier modern Web/software companies such as Tesla, Greenhouse Software, Lever and Textio. I partner and compete with many of these companies — their leaders hire awesome talent! These are candidates that (pre-COVID), employers were paying staffing/search firms $20,000 to $100,000 each to recruit.
• Many Companies Still Hiring — 170 companies have confirmed they are still hiring, according to Talent Airport.

I can’t predict the future of COVID and its impact on hiring/layoffs. But I can promise that we’ll continue to track data like this and add it to Talent Airport.

Please ping me and my assistant heather@ongig.com for any questions about Talent Airport. And a special thanks to the 37 “Hiring Heroes” who have helped build Talent Airport (they are listing in the “Hiring Hereos Helping Out” tab of Talent Airport.

Stay safe,

Rob Kelly, co-founder and chief ongiggitizer

Ongig: “Eliminate boring and biased job descriptions” (Ongig also powers Talent Airport)

rob@ongig.com

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Why we write about this?

Ongig is on a mission to eliminate boring and biased job descriptions. On March 20, 2020, we decided to create Talent Airport to help unite companies laying off people with companies still hiring.  As part of Talent Airport, we have the data above to share as we power through this COVID crisis.

July 13, 2020 by Rob Kelly in Talent Airport