The Dreaded L-Word: Layoffs

No one likes to talk about layoffs — until they happen to them.

By one estimate, 40% of all US workers will be laid off at least once in their careers.

That’s what makes it a word that needs to be confronted, now more than ever.

New data shows that nearly 950,000 jobs have been cut this year up to September.1 That’s the largest number of year-to-date layoffs since 2020, when the pandemic saw mass workforce reductions.

And if we exclude the pandemic as an outlier, then layoffs this year have already surpassed the full totals of every year since 2009.

The end of labor hoarding…

We’re currently witnessing the corporate spinoff of the Hunger Games, with major corporate cutbacks at companies such as Meta, Amazon, Starbucks, Target, and Paramount.

The size and pace of these layoffs suggest that the trend of ‘labor hoarding’ — a ‘low hire, low fire’ state of affairs in which employers held onto workers even when business was slow, perhaps fearing the difficulty of rehiring them later — is ending.

But the recent spate of layoffs in the private sector suggests that managers may be losing their fear of firing, bolstered by AI and automation.

…And the rise of digital (and robot) workers.

That’s right. Companies are breaking up with their workers and jumping into bed with AI.

In a New York Times op-ed penned by Aneesh Raman, LinkedIn’s Chief Economy Opportunity Officer, Raman wrote:

“There are growing signs that artificial intelligence poses a real threat to a substantial number of the jobs that normally serve as the first step for each new generation of young workers.”

This is supported by a LinkedIn survey, which found that 63% of executives surveyed believe AI will eventually take on work currently handled by entry-level workers.

And this trend hasn’t been limited to workers in the bottom rung.

Just last week, Amazon announced it had slashed 14,000 corporate jobs, with up to 30,000 layoffs planned for the near future.

This news came days after internal documents revealed that Amazon had plans to automate 75% of its operations through robotics.

Amazon’s executives are fully aware of just how bad this looks. The documents show them considering swapping out words like “automation” and “AI” for terms like “advanced technology,” and replacing “robot” with “cobot” (which is their attempt to spin it as a robot-human collab project).

Suddenly, it’s starting to feel less like the future of work and more like a Black Mirror episode. The robots aren’t just coming — they’re here to schedule your exit interview. The robots are indeed coming. And soon, they may even be the ones carrying out your exit interviews.

Of course, every major technological shift has made old jobs obsolete while creating new ones. That’s simply how the labor market works.

We’ve seen this play out in the 1980s, when American manufacturing jobs were in steep decline. This time, it’s office workers whose jobs are at risk.

Breaking up is never easy.

Layoffs often feel like a bad breakup, only instead of being dumped by text, you’re getting dumped via a Zoom call.

Businesses will often give you the “it’s not you, it’s me” spiel. The company is moving in a different strategic direction. It needs to cut losses and streamline operations. And just like in a breakup, hearing their reasons won’t make it any easier to swallow.

While companies view layoffs as a matter of reducing headcount and cutting costs, for workers, layoffs are deeply emotional and personal. Being read a script by an HR rep, who tells you that you aren’t allowed back into the building, can understandably feel dehumanizing. It’s basically the corporate version of getting ghosted.

Still, layoffs are a reality of modern work that most of us can’t avoid. The best we can do is try to prepare for them.

Don’t miss the red flags:

Don’t wait for your company to hit you with the corporate equivalent of “We need to talk.”

Look out for these three warning signs that indicate a layoff may be coming:

1. A slowdown in hiring: This can be a precursor to layoffs.
2. When corporate messaging changes: Leaders start talking about efficiency and emphasize operations over innovation.
3. Quiet firing: This happens when companies start to push people out, but it could also occur when you see senior executives leaving of their own accord.

Even if you don’t spot the red flags, it’s still important to test the job market regularly.

• Stay on top of job postings. Read through job descriptions and stay up to date on the skills that employers are seeking.
• Even if you’re happy with your job, applying to other roles every now and then is a good way to ensure your resume stays competitive.
• Focus your resume on adaptability, not just your expertise. Rather than just listing the projects you’ve worked on, highlight your ability to solve problems, integrate new tools, and adapt to change.

Whether you’re a CEO or a recent grad, the challenge is to keep learning, keep adapting, and to see change not as a threat, but as a signal to evolve.

Our Bonus Two Cents:

¹Take this figure with a grain of salt.

The ongoing government shutdown has delayed the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ release of the official jobs report for September. And even if we did have the report, the recent politicization of economic data puts a question mark around the dependability of government data. You can read our thoughts on that here.

©2025. DailyDAC^TM, LLC d/b/a/ Financial Poise^TM. This article is subject to the disclaimers found here.

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