Wait a second, so you’re telling me all those “part time remote job opportunities” I get texts about where I can make $20k a week aren’t real?

As if it wasn’t bad enough watching the stock market play limbo and Bitcoin turning into a falling knife. January just delivered labor market data straight out of the flip-phone, pre-collapse Bear Stearns era.

According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. companies announced 108,435 layoffs last month… the worst January since 2009. Yes, that 2009. The one with bank bailouts, endless foreclosure signs, and everyone suddenly “going back to school.”

That number is up 118% year over year and more than triple December’s total, which is not exactly what you want to see when everyone’s been preaching a “no-hire, no-fire” soft landing like it’s gospel.

And if you were hoping layoffs were being offset by new jobs… lol.

Companies announced just 5,306 new hires in January… the lowest January number ever recorded since Challenger started tracking this data in 2009. That’s way worse than a random slowdown. That’s a sign the hiring market is switching to airplane mode.

(Source: USA Today)

Challenger’s Andy Challenger confirmed that things are not looking hot.

“Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in the first quarter, but this is a high total for January.”

Translation: These cuts weren’t sporatic… they were planned months ago.

Even more concerning, most of these layoffs were locked in at the end of 2025, which tells you companies didn’t exactly walk into 2026 feeling optimistic, confident, or ready to order extra office chairs.

That said, for a little more context… nearly half of all January layoffs came from just two names:

UPS kicked things off by cutting 31,243 workers as it backs away from Amazon volume. Then Amazon followed with 16,000 corporate cuts, around the same time that Claudbot went live (coincidence? I think not.) 

Transportation led all sectors thanks to UPS, while tech followed close behind. But the sleeper hit no one was really watching? That title goes to healthcare. Hospitals and healthcare systems announced 17,107 job cuts, the most since April 2020 (also not a date you want to be compared to).

If you’re wondering why? Blame inflation, sky-high labor costs, and lower reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid.

And that’s not the only thing making traders uneasy.

Official government data hasn’t fully caught up yet. Weekly jobless claims ticked up to 231,000, the highest since early December, but economists are already blaming winter storms like it’s a “get out of jail free” card.

The bigger issue is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report is delayed thanks to the latest government shutdown circus. So investors are flying partially blind while Challenger’s numbers do laps around everyone’s expectations.

Also worth noting: more than 100 companies filed WARN notices in January, signaling large layoffs that are still working their way through the system.

In other words: the lagging data hasn’t screamed yet… but the forward indicators are definitely clearing their throat.

We’re probably not reliving 2009.… but this also doesn’t look like the “resilient labor market” Donnie keeps promising in ALL CAPS during his late-night Truth Social marathons.

Hiring plans are down 13% from last January and 49% from December, layoffs are accelerating, and companies are clearly battening down the hatches before things get messier.

Anyways, keep an eye on the next jobs report (whenever the government decides to release it) because January just fired the opening warning shot.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Amazon as mentioned in the article.