Major Layoffs and Hiring Freezes in 2025: Key Trends & Industry Impact

In 2025, major layoffs and hiring freezes are sweeping across industries, reflecting a global shift in economic priorities and business strategies. Tech giants, once engines of aggressive hiring, are downsizing significantly due to overexpansion, declining profits, and the rise of AI-driven automation. Manufacturing and financial sectors are also reducing workforce sizes, citing cost-cutting measures and increased reliance on digital tools.

Hiring freezes are becoming common as companies prioritize efficiency over growth, brace for potential recessionary pressures, and reassess their talent needs. This labor shift has created uncertainty for millions of professionals, especially in mid-level and support roles.

However, not all is bleak—industries like healthcare, clean energy, and AI remain resilient, with continued demand for specialized talent. Experts emphasize the importance of reskilling, adaptability, and digital proficiency in navigating this evolving job landscape. While challenging, this transition also presents new opportunities for workers ready to align with future-ready industries.

Major Layoffs and Hiring Freezes in 2025

TCS

* No. of Employees to be Laid off:  12,000

* Industry: Technology

* July 2025

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has decided to stop recruitment of senior staff and freeze yearly salary increments across its global operations. This decision follows the company's recent announcement to reduce its over 6 lakh workforce by 2% - which is around 12,000 people who will be laid off.

Intel

* No. of Employees to be Laid off:  24,000

* Industry: Technology

* July 2025

Intel to cut 24,000 jobs and halt major factory projects in strategic restructuring by the end of 2025. It is one of the most significant restructurings in the company’s history. The chip giant, which had 99,500 workers at the end of 2024, will reduce its workforce to 75,000 employees worldwide. The restructuring involves a complete scrapping of two significant expansion projects in Europe. This includes a delayed $16 billion ‘mega-fab’ project in Germany as well as an oversized assembly and testing facility in Poland. Intel is also scaling down in Costa Rica, shifting more than 2,000 jobs to Vietnam and Malaysia.

Bosch

* No. of Employees to be Laid off: 1,100

* Industry: Automobile

* July 2025

German car parts maker Bosch will cut up to 1,100 jobs by 2029 and restructure its Reutlingen plant as a rapidly worsening auto market drives down sales. The company will focus the plant mainly on manufacturing semiconductors, as making electronic control units is no longer competitive.

Jaguar Land Rover

* No. of Employees to be Laid off:  500

* Industry: Automobile

* July 2025

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is to cut up to 500 management jobs in the UK, as the carmaker faces pressure on sales and profits from US trade tariffs. JLR will launch a voluntary redundancy scheme, and the cuts were not expected to exceed 1.5% of its British workforce.

 

Serepta Therapeutics

* No. of Employees to be Laid off:  500

* Industry: Biotechnology

* July 2025

Sarepta Therapeutics would lay off 36% of its workforce, or about 500 employees, after the recent deaths of two patients who had received its gene therapy Elevidys. Elevidys, approved by the FDA in 2024 for ambulatory Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients aged four and older, is the only gene therapy available for the disease. It carries a known risk of liver damage and was conditionally approved for non-ambulatory patients despite failing to meet the main goal in a late-stage study.

Alaska Air

* No. of Employees to be Laid off:  252

* Industry: Aviation

* July 2025

Hawaiian Airlines began its third round of merger-related layoffs, issuing a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notice today, indicating that it plans to cut another 252 of its non-union jobs based in Honolulu. Hawaiian spokesperson Alex Da Silva told the Star-Advertiser that some of these reductions will take place around Sept. 18, the first anniversary of Alaska Air Group’s $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Holdings.

Indeed, and Glassdoor

* No. of Employees to be Laid off:  1,300

* Industry: Technology

* July 2025

Recruit Holdings, the Japanese parent company of job search platforms Indeed and Glassdoor, has laid off approximately 1,300 employees, or 6% of its HR Technology segment workforce. The cuts come as the company accelerates its investment in AI and prepares to consolidate operations between the two platforms.

Portland General Electric

* No. of Employees to be Laid off:  300

* Industry: Energy

* July 2025

 Portland General Electric has laid off 53 full-time employees, resulting in a total reduction of 330 positions. A spokesperson for PGE provided KATU News with a statement that reads in part, “Yesterday, as part of Portland General Electric’s ongoing work to keep bills as low as possible, we made strategic staffing reductions that impacted 330 positions, including 53 full-time employees,123 contract worker positions, and closing 154 unfilled open positions.”

Microsoft

* No. of Employees to be Laid off:  9,000

* Industry: Technology

* July 2025

Microsoft is eliminating 9,000 roles—less than 4% of its workforce—as it realigns its operations to focus on AI and increased efficiency. “We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email. In January, it reduced headcount by less than 1% based on performance. Then in June, the software company slashed more than 6,000 jobs in May and then at least 300 more in June.

Clarks

Clarks slashes over 1,200 roles amid pre-tax loss, as revenues fell by nearly £100m in its latest financial year. The footwear company’s headcount dropped from 7,413 to 6,161 during the last year. Sales were also down from £994.5m in 2023 to £901.3m over the period.

Allianz

* No. of Employees to be Laid off:  650

* Industry: Insurance

* June 2025

Allianz will cut 650 UK insurance jobs by the end of 2025. The job cuts, subject to consultation, will span Allianz UK’s personal lines, commercial, specialty, and central functions

Intel

* No. of Employees to be Laid off: 10,000

* Industry: Technology

* June 2025

Struggling chip giant Intel plans to slash up to 20% of its global workforce,  amounting to around 10,000 workers, despite receiving more than $2 billion in federal funding under former President Biden’s signature CHIPS Act. “These are difficult actions, but essential to meet our affordability challenges and the company’s current financial position. It drives pain to every individual,” Naga Chandrasekaran, Intel’s vice president of manufacturing, reportedly wrote in the memo sent to employees. The anticipated reductions are scheduled to begin in weeks and will reportedly affect Intel Foundry, the company’s internal manufacturing division specializing in producing semiconductors for external customers.

Blue Diamond Growers

* No. of Employees to be Laid off: 600

* Industry: Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Forestry

* June 2025

Blue Diamond Growers, the Sacramento-based almond cooperative, plans to wind down operations at its historic midtown plant and transfer most manufacturing to sites in Turlock and Salida over the next two years.

Jetstar Asia

* No. of Employees to be Laid off: 500

* Industry: Aviation

* June 2025

Singapore-based budget airline Jetstar Asia will cease operations on July 31 due to a “strategic restructuring” by its parent company, Australian flag carrier Qantas. The closure will impact more than 500 employees.

Procter & Gamble (P&G)

* No. of Employees to be Laid off: 7,000

* Industry: Consumer Products

* June 2025

Procter & Gamble plans to eliminate approximately 7,000 non-manufacturing positions, impacting 15% of its white-collar workforce, over the next two fiscal years. The world’s largest consumer goods company also plans to exit some product categories and brands in certain markets, including some potential divestitures, as part of the broader two-year restructuring plan.

Petronas

* No. of Employees to be Laid off: 5,000

* Industry: Oil & Gas

* June 2025

Petronas, Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company, will cut about 10% of its workforce or 5000 jobs, in a firm-wide restructuring as it looks to reduce costs due to falling crude prices.

Hudson’s Bay

* No. of Employees to be Laid off: 8,300

* Industry: Retail

* May 2025

Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Company plans to lay off 8,347 employees, or 89% of its workforce. The company will conclude its liquidation sale and shut all stores. Hudson’s Bay, Canada’s oldest retail chain, has been part of the country’s landscape and identity for 355 years, anchoring malls from coast to coast.

The United Nations Secretariat

* No. of Employees to be Laid off: 6900

* Industry: Government

* May 2025

The United Nations Secretariat is preparing to cut its $3.7 billion budget by 20% and slash about 6,900 jobs.