AI Devastates Jobs in the USA: Shocking Latest Data on Layoffs

The adoption of artificial intelligence has brutally accelerated layoffs in the United States, confirming for the third consecutive month as the primary reason cited by companies for workforce reductions. In May, American employers announced a staggering 97,006 job cuts. This figure marked a 16% increase compared to the 83,387 recorded in April and a 3% increase compared to the 93,816 in the same period last year.

The data, emerged from the periodic monitoring by the outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas, highlighted a deep and immediate restructuring of the job market, driven by the integration of new technologies. The impact of artificial intelligence has proven to be concrete and tangible in the field. In May alone, restructuring related to the adoption of AI caused the loss of 38,579 jobs, accounting for 40% of the total cuts announced in the country.

Numbers of Industrial Restructuring Between Failures and New Technologies

This was the highest monthly figure since the analysis company began monitoring this specific metric in 2023. The technology sector bore the heaviest toll, registering 38,242 layoffs in May alone, hitting the highest peak for the sector since August 2024. Looking at the first quarter of 2026, tech companies have already announced 123,653 cuts, marking a 66% increase compared to the same period in 2025 and significantly outpacing all other productive sectors.

Layoffs have not spared other industrial sectors. The transportation sector recorded the second highest volume of cuts in May with 6,909 positions eliminated, bringing the total for 2026 to 40,388 units (an increase of 449% compared to last year). In contrast, service companies showed a contraction in trend, with 6,268 jobs lost in May and a provisional annual total of 17,065 (a 61% decrease compared to the same period in 2025). In the healthcare and manufacturing sectors, a total of 30,414 layoffs have been counted since the beginning of the year, equal to a 17% increase year-on-year.

In addition to the pressure exerted by automation, American companies have faced a tough macroeconomic situation. Layoffs related to corporate failures ranked second among the reasons stated in May with 5,637 cuts (the highest figure since February 2025, when 35,172 redundancies were announced). More generally, market conditions and the overall economic trend have caused 69,645 cuts in 2026, while business closures have generated 66,733.

A clear sign of upheaval has also come from mergers and acquisitions, responsible for 11,989 layoffs in 2026, a figure that has grown over sixfold compared to the 1,889 recorded in the same timeframe last year. According to analysts at Challenger, companies have aggressively restructured their business lines, modifying the workforce to reposition themselves in an economy that increasingly seems driven by algorithmic solutions.