San Francisco, Apr 7 (IANS): US-based employers, led by tech companies, announced 270,416 job cuts in the first quarter this year, a 396 per cent increase from the 55,696 cuts announced in the same period one year prior, a report has shown.

In March alone, employers announced 89,703 cuts in March, up 15 per cent from the 77,770 announced in February, according to the report by global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

It is up 319 per cent from the 21,387 cuts announced in the same month in 2022.

"March's total marks the third time this year when cuts were higher than the corresponding month a year earlier," the findings showed.

"We know companies are approaching 2023 with caution, though the economy is still creating jobs. With rate hikes continuing and companies' reigning in costs, the large-scale layoffs we are seeing will likely continue," said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

"The technology sector is leading all industries, and this talent is in demand across industries. In fact, 38 per cent of all cuts are in the Tech sector," he added.

Technology companies have announced 102,391 cuts so far this year, up a whopping 38,487 per cent from the 267 cuts the sector announced in the first quarter of 2022.

It is already up 5 per cent from the annual total of 97,171 in 2022. It is on pace to surpass the highest annual total for the sector announced in 2001.

"The only years during which Tech announced more job cuts than the current year are in 2001, when 168,395 cuts were announced, and 2002, when 131,294 Tech cuts were recorded," said the report.

Financial companies announced the second-most job cuts this year with 30,635, a 419 per cent increase from the 5,903 cuts announced in the sector in Q1 2022.

Health care/products companies and manufacturers, including hospitals, announced 22,950 cuts in the first quarter of 2023, up 65 per cent from the 13,923 cuts announced in the same period last year.

The Media industry shed 582 cuts last month for a total of 10,320. Of those, 1,438 were in digital, broadcast, and print news.

"Hiring plans fell to 9,044, the lowest total for March since 2015, when 6,412 new hires were announced. So far this year, US-employers announced plans to hire 70,638, the lowest Q1 total since 2016, when 26,898 new hires were recorded," the report noted.