Last month, one unfortunate soul with tens of thousands of social media followers took it upon himself to post a chart showing an upsurge in recent hiring plans as reported by Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

It didn’t occur to that ostensible macro maven that there might be a reason why US firms suddenly started hiring a few people. As it turns out, there’s a seasonal factor — namely, the holiday shopping season. (Maybe you’ve heard of it. After all, “We’re saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again.”)

I won’t name the offender, but suffice to say that’s why you can’t assume every social media account with “capital” in the handle and a yearbook-style picture of a thirtysomething in a Banana Republic suit is a reliable source.

The in-context reality of the hiring plans tally from Challenger is as dour as the rest of the data which on Thursday showed job cut announcements in November topped 70,000 for just the third time since Lehman collapsed.

At 372,520, seasonal hiring as tracked by Challenger through November was unchanged from October, and the through-November tally counts as the lowest since the firm started tracking seasonal hiring in 2012.

Total hiring plans for 2025 rose a mediocre (and that’s a polite euphemism) 9,074 last month, bringing the YTD sum to 497,151, down 35% from the same period last year.

There’s the chart. And like most (all) of the other charts you could make from Thursday’s Challenger release, it ain’t pretty.

Specifically, 2025 counts as the slowest year for hiring plans in the US since 2010. Now cue David Zervos to explain how the macro “uncertainty” narrative is a “hoax.”

(Hey David, how’s that Fed Chair bid going?)