Counter-intuitive number
Small businesses lay off workers at about half the rate of Fortune 500 firms (1.4% vs 2.7% quarterly). The reason isn't generosity — it's smaller workforces giving owners less slack to cut.
Sector breakdown
- Information / tech — 2.8% (highest)
- Construction — 2.1%
- Manufacturing — 1.9%
- Retail trade — 1.6%
- Professional services — 1.3%
- Hospitality — 1.1%
- Healthcare — 0.7% (lowest)
The tech outlier
Information sector layoffs spiked in 2023 and have stayed elevated through 2025 as the post-ZIRP correction works through smaller software companies. JOLTS data suggests this normalizes to ~2.0% by mid-2026.
Sources