Retail Job Losses Up 77 Percent in April
The retail sector slashed more than 64,000 jobs during the first four months of 2025—a triple-digit percentage increase from the job cuts announced at the same time last year.
April saw the most pronounced downturn, with stores across America reporting having eliminated 7,235 positions last month. That’s a 77-percent uptick in cuts from April of 2024—and the biggest job cut rate increase since the pandemic.
Approximately 64,319 jobs were lost between January and April, a 296-percent jump from the 16,232 cuts announced during the year-ago period, according to data released by executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
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Retail represented the second-most impacted consumer-facing industry, preceded only by technology and the federal government (which has seen massive layoffs spurred by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE).
All in all, U.S.-based employers announced 105,441 cuts in April, a decrease of 62 percent from the 275,240 job cuts in March. Aside from April 2020, when the Covid-19 crisis had entered full swing, April’s job eliminations are the highest number recorded for the month since Challenger first began tracking and reporting job cut announcements in 1989. Other than April 2020, last month’s job losses represent the most substantial shrinkage since 2009, when companies across the U.S. announced plans to terminate 132,590 roles.
“Though the Government cuts are front and center, we saw job cuts across sectors last month,” Andrew Challenger, the firm’s senior vice president and workplace expert, said in a statement.” Employers are slow to hire and limiting hiring plans as they wait and see what will happen with trade, supply chain, and consumer spending.”
Notably, U.S. consumer products manufacturers haven’t been inoculated from these economic impacts. In fact, they’ve announced 14,619 job cuts so far in 2025, a 54-percent uptick from the first four months of 2024, when 9,468 jobs were slashed.
“Several sectors will be impacted by tariffs going forward, including Consumer, Auto, and Retail. These sectors are already cutting more workers than last year,” said Challenger.
These downward trends could have long-lasting effects; 45,761 job cuts were attributed to stores, units, or department closing altogether, according to the firm’s research. Meanwhile, 39,396 job losses were attributed to restructuring, while 35,501 were due to bankruptcy, and 63 were said to be a direct effect of President Donald Trump’s tariffs (all of which were in the retail sector).
Job cuts are happening all across the country, but so far they’ve been felt acutely on the East Coast, owing to the massive federal government cuts implemented by DOGE. The nation’s capital saw the most substantial quarterly increase, with the District of Columbia reporting 278,711 job eliminations compared to 34,120 during the same period of 2024.
The Midwest experienced notable job contraction, with job cuts growing 25 percent year over year, concentrated heavily in Ohio and Nebraska, along with Missouri, Wisconsin, and Indiana. The Western U.S. actually saw a 19-percent decline in job losses, though Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma increased their cuts this year.
All in all, the South experienced the most painful decline in job cuts, dropping 41 percent, from 33,031, in 2024, to 19,476 in 2025. But there are exceptions to any rule; Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee experienced disproportionate losses for the region.
The factor that is perhaps most concerning in light of this contraction is that companies’ hiring plans have stalled out.
According to the research, enterprises’ hiring plans fell in March to 13,198 from 34,580 in February. This year, companies across the board have indicated they plan to hire 53,867 workers—16 percent fewer than the 64,163 new hires announced in the first quarter of 2024. “It is the lowest Q1 hiring total since 2012 when 52,540 new hiring plans were announced,” the group said.
And with inventories on the decline, it’s likely that fewer retail associates will be needed to service shoppers in stores. According to the Port of Long Beach, which, alongside the Port of Los Angeles, processes about 40 percent of U.S. cargo, retailers are stocked only for the next six to eight weeks, and cargo rates are dropping precipitously.
