Corporate America slashes thousands of jobs on recession fears: Cuts jumped 13% in October - the highest since February 2021 - as private employers added 100,000 FEWER jobs since last month

Layoffs have been on the rise in 2022 - as companies brace for a US recessionJob creation is dwindling as Federal Reserve interest rate hikes continueIn October job cuts jumped by 13 percent to 33,843 - highest jump since Feb 21Fed chair said on Wednesday job creation must drop further to stymie inflation A Fed official said on Monday that employment rates may start to climb 

Corporate America has slashed swathes of jobs in recent months as it braces for a US recession – and is expected to continue doing so.

In October, layoffs increased by 13 percent – the highest jump since February 2021. US employers also eased their hiring this month, with job creation slowing the most it has since January 2021.

Just 127,000 jobs were created this month, much less than analysts expected and nearly half the 239,000 jobs created in October.

Companies that enjoyed huge growth during the pandemic, particularly those in tech and e-commerce, are starting to pare back on spending ahead of what financial chiefs fear will be trying times.

Major companies like Twitter, Lyft, Stripe, Meta and Amazon have made huge cuts to their workforces, upending a previously stable employer.

In October layoffs increased by 13 percent – the highest jump since February 2021

Just 127,000 jobs were created this month, according to data from the ADP Employment report (Plotted: USBOL data)

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, pictured at the New York Times Dealbook summit on Wednesday, said a four percent unemployment rate could be considered indicative of a healthy labor market

Unemployment rates are currently sitting at 3.7 percent, according to the US Department of Labor statistics.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday during the New York Times DealBook summit that she was not sure what an acceptable unemployment rate is but said that the Treasury has considered something in the four percent range as indicative of a healthy labor market.

On Monday a top Federal Reserve official told the Financial Times that as the central bank pushes against still-rising inflation rates employment could rise further.

John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said he expects the unemployment rate to rise to around 5 percent by the end of 2023.

After his acquisition of Twitter Elon Musk oversaw huge job cuts in the social media company. He posted a tweet on Wednesday expressing fears of a recession and related them to high interest rates.

‘Fed needs to cut interest rates immediately,’ Musk tweeted. ‘They are massively amplifying the probability of a severe recession.’

Musk is just one of a number of CEOs to have voiced concerns over the US economy.

JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos have all expressed concern that the US is headed for a recession as a result of higher interest rates.

In a speech about the Federal Reserve’s fiscal plans for the coming months on Wednesday, its chair Jerome Powell said that in order to get inflation back down to the two percent target it would need to keep the labor market under stress.

He said job gains remain too high, at about 290,000 positions per month over the past three months, to keep spending down.

John Williams, a senior Federal Reserve official, said he expected the unemployment rate to rise from its current level of 3.7 percent to around 5 percent by the end of 2023

Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell, pictured speaking at the Brookings Institute on Wednesday

US-based tech companies have scrapped over 28,000 jobs so far this year, more than double a year earlier according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas

Employers have sought to cut spending as the Federal Reserve has consistently hiked inflation rates this year. Businesses faced higher borrowing costs and some were forced to slow down growth and cut back on spending.

Wages and salaries increased more than five percent in the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and job cuts followed.

One major mass layoff took place in June when American homeware company Bed Bath & Beyond said it would be cutting roughly 20 percent of its staff and close 150 of its 900 retail stores.

At the same time that Bed Bath & Beyond announced layoffs, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel announced plans to reorganize and cut roughly 20 percent of the company’s 5,600 employees.

Then in early November Mark Zuckerberg announced huge layoff at Meta, telling employees that he ‘got it wrong’ and that he ‘takes responsibility’ for the problems that led to the cuts – which made up around  13 percent of Meta’s workforce.

Musk’s Twitter job terminations followed, with around 3,000 job losses – some of whom left independently while others were forced out.

Most recently Amazon workers spoke of ‘chaos’ as 10,000 employees were told they’ll lose their jobs during a scripted meeting.