Employers slashed more than 150,000 jobs in October, the largest wave of layoffs in more than 20 years, a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Nov. 6. Firms have pointed to a myriad of causes for their layoffs, from AI to tariffs and corporate restructuring.

The closely followed report was originally scheduled for release on Oct. 3, but it was shelved by the government shutdown.

Veronica Beagle is the managing editor for Education at Forbes Advisor. She completed her master’s in English at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Before coming to Forbes Advisor she worked on education related content at HigherEducation.com and Re..

The United States just absorbed its heaviest monthly wave of layoffs in more than two decades, with 153,000 jobs cut in October, the worst tally since 2003. That figure, driven by a mix of aggressive cost cutting and rapid adoption of artificial intelligence,

Working in IT isn’t always pretty. After all, we can’t all work on the cutting-edge technologies all the time. Some of us have to get dirty — in some cases, literally. Unfortunately, dirty jobs — whether you’re being chained to a help desk ...

Instructor Wendy Broughton, seated at left, works with students in the health sciences track of Bentonville public schools’ Ignite program on Nov. 5, 2025, in Bentonville, Ark. The program—which integrates lessons about AI into its curriculum—offers career-pathway training for high school juniors and seniors in the district.