How many people are laid off in New York each month?
Refreshed annually
There were about 122,000 layoffs and discharges in December 2025. This includes all terminations of employment by an employer — called layoffs and discharges — such as permanent layoffs, temporary layoffs, and terminations because of mergers, downsizing, closings, or employee performance.
126K
people were laid off or discharged in New York on average each month in 2025
1.51M
layoffs and discharges in New York in 2025
Layoffs are a constant in the labor market — from 2001 to 2019, there was an average of 1,399,000 layoffs and discharges a year in New York. Increases in layoffs often reflect recessions or other economic disruption. For example, record-setting layoffs and discharges occurred in March and April of 2020 because of COVID-19. So far in 2025, layoffs and discharges total 1,495,000 in New York, which is 30.9% higher than the same period in 2024.
In New York, layoffs were 32.9% higher in 2025 than in 2024.
Cumulative monthly layoffs and discharges in New York, not seasonally adjusted
What is the layoff rate in New York?
Another way to consider this data is to look at the layoff and discharge rate. This puts layoffs and discharges in the context of the total number of people working by showing layoffs and discharges as a percent of employed people who were laid off during the given time period. This rate allows for better comparisons across time, industries, and places by adjusting for differences in the size of the working population.
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New York's monthly layoff rate ranged from 0.7% to 1.7% in 2025.
Seasonally adjusted New York monthly layoff and discharge rates, December 2000–December 2025
In December 2025, 1.2% of people employed in New York were laid off or discharged, a lower rate than November. Compared to the the national numbers, the December 2025 rate in New York was higher, meaning a higher share of the New York working population was laid off or dismissed in December 2025 compared to the US overall.
Average layoff and discharge rates are also useful to consider because they smooth out short-term fluctuations and clarify long-term trends.
In 2025, New York's average monthly layoff rate was higher than the US average.
12-month rolling average layoff and discharge rates in the US and New York, November 2001–December 2025
During the first 20 years of data, the 12-month average layoff and discharge rate in the US peaked at the end of the Great Recession in June 2009 at 1.8% and during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020 at 2.4%. New York’s 12-month average layoff rate was 0.2 percentage points lower than the US rate in June 2009 and 0.2 percentage points higher in May 2020.
Compared to the national numbers, the average 2025 monthly layoff rate in New York was higher than the national rate. At 1.3%, New York's average layoff and discharge rate increased compared to the previous year.
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
Page sources
USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.
