If you’re someone who spends a lot of time on LinkedIn these days, you’re no doubt aware that it can be a humbling and depressing experience.
Economic data tells us that the U.S. job market isn’t so bad. In August, the unemployment rate was 4.3% on a national scale, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (September’s unemployment data isn’t available yet due to the government shutdown.)
But let’s take a look at how the unemployment rate has been ticking upward this year.
Unemployment in 2025
- Jan 2025: 4%
- Feb 2025: 4.1%
- March 2025: 4.2%
- April 2025: 4.2%
- May 2025: 4.2%
- June 2025: 4.1%
- July 2025: 4.2%
- August 2025: 4.3%
Historically speaking, a 4.3% unemployment rate isn’t terrible. But the last time the jobless rate surpassed 4.2% was in late 2021, when the economy was still in the process of recovering from the Covid pandemic.
And it’s not just that the unemployment rate has been inching higher this year. It’s also that consumers, on a whole, are pessimistic about the economy.
The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey reached its lowest level in five months.
“Inflation and high prices remain at the forefront of consumers’ minds,” said Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu.
Target joins the ranks of companies cutting jobs
In late October, Target announced plans to eliminate 1,800 corporate jobs, marking the company’s second-largest corporate downsizing. All told, that’s roughly 8% of Target’s global workforce.
The announcement came on the heels of 11 consecutive quarters of flat or plunging sales for Target, during which time competitors like Walmart and Costco have managed to thrive.
Related: Costco Executive members notice major early shopping problem
Target’s recent losing streak isn’t the result of a single factor, but rather, a confluence of events.
For one thing, Target’s prices, though competitive, can’t quite keep up with Walmart’s. And at a time when it’s easy enough to find a dollar store in almost every neighborhood, consumers may be more apt to go where their money can be stretched the most.
Target’s reliance on discretionary product sales like home decor is also hurting its bottom line. At a time when unemployment is ticking upward and many consumers are living paycheck to paycheck, people aren’t shopping for fun items. They’re focusing on essentials.
More recently, Target faced its share of backlash over its rollback of DEI initiatives. That, combined with economic factors, has put the company in a position where cutting headcount seems inevitable.
Target layoffs unveil a new problematic trend
When 815 Target employees joined a 9 a.m. conference call on Tuesday, Oct. 28, to learn that they no longer had jobs, the news may not have been so shocking, given that the company had warned just days prior of plans to reduce its staff.
What’s troubling isn’t the fact that Target cut hundreds of jobs in one fell swoop, but how the company did it.
Related: Struggling children’s retailer closing 150 stores, slashes jobs
In today’s economy, layoffs are becoming so common that they’re no longer taking place on a one-on-one basis. Not only have mass layoffs become somewhat of a norm, but the approach companies are taking has become increasingly impersonal.
Zety’s 2025 Layoff Experience Report found that 29% of recently laid-off workers were notified by email, while 28% were told by phone. Only 30% were told in a face-to-face meeting.
Given the number of retailers announcing layoff plans this year, the fear is that the trend of downsizing staff will only continue into the new year.
Retailers cutting jobs in 2025
- Amazon announced the downsizing of 14,000 corporate employees.
- Kohl’s is cutting almost 10% of its corporate staff.
- Walmart is eliminating roughly 1,500 U.S. positions.
- Kroger says it’s reducing its corporate headcount by nearly 1,000 jobs.
Corporate layoffs aren’t exactly a new trend. In poor economies, it’s a common practice.
Rather, it’s the impersonal nature of layoffs today that should give workers everywhere pause.
If companies can’t give laid-off workers the courtesy of a face-to-face, one-on-one meeting, it’s a clear indication that they don’t value employees on an individual level.
That means anyone and everyone is expendable, and that workers across all ranks really need to stay on their toes, especially if economic conditions worsen.
Maurie Backman owns shares of Target.
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