Despite uncertainty, big job cuts aren't increasing

There's been plenty of economic turmoil this year, but it hasn't translated into a big increase in job cuts.

The pace of layoffs, as measured by mass layoffs reported to the state Labor Department, is running at roughly the same pace through early August as the previous two years.

That's despite the uncertainty that businesses are feeling as the Trump administration's tariff policies remain unsettled, making it hard for them to plan future investments or predict pricing. So far this year, 12 companies have filed notices with the Labor Department for mass layoffs that would eliminate 1,407 jobs. If that pace continues through the rest of the year, the number of job cuts would come in close to the 2,419 positions that were cut through mass layoffs in 2023 and slightly below the 2,582 that