Jobless claims drop to 3-year low, but employers shed 71,000 jobs in worst November since 2022

The US jobs market received a fresh set of mixed signals on Thursday, with claims for unemployment insurance dropping to a three-year low but employer layoff plans flashing another warning sign.

Employers announced 71,321 layoffs last month, according to a Thursday report from the global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The cuts were up 24% from the nearly 58,000 planned layoffs announced in November 2024, and amounted to the highest total for the month since 2022.

The data comes on the heels of last month’s brutal Challenger, Gray & Christmas report, which detailed the worst October for layoff plans since 2003 amid a rash of cuts from major employers like Amazon (AMZN), challenging the narrative that the labor market was stuck in a state of low hiring and low firing. Layoff announcements in October were at 153,074.

“Layoff plans fell last month, certainly a positive sign. That stated, job cuts in November have risen above 70,000 only twice since 2008: in 2022 and in 2008,” Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, stated in the report.

On the other labor market front, new data from the Department of Labor displayed 191,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits were filed in the week finishing Nov. 29, down from 218,000 the week prior to reach the lowest level since September 2022.

Guy Berger, director of economic research at the Burning Glass Institute, wrote on X that while this was an “extremely low read” of initial claims, “It’s normal for initial claims to be quite volatile during the holiday season, so I don’t attach much meaning to this week’s dip (and caution warranted about swings in the other direction, too).”

Earlier this week, private payroll processor ADP found that the economy unexpectedly shed 32,000 private-sector positions last month, with losses concentrated among tiny- and medium-size businesses.

All that is reflected in souring sentiment about the state of the job market. According to the University of Michigan’s survey of consumers, 69% of consumers now expect unemployment to rise in the year ahead, more than double the rate from this time last year. The perceived probability of losing one’s job is at its highest level since 2020.