‘Uncertain times’: Gee warns as October layoffs surge to 20-year high
Nov 9, 2025, 6:19 AM
Job cuts across the U.S. have hit a level the country hasn’t seen in roughly 20 years, with more than 153,000 layoffs in October alone. The number of nationwide layoffs in October was nearly triple the amount of October 2o24.
Gee laid out the landscape for what many people across our country are going through after being laid off by their respective employers, and reflected on what may be the cause for growing concerns within the current job market on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio.
“It’s a real tough time. Five years removed from the pandemic, these are uncertain times,” Gee said. “Even though these are uncertain times, usually in the history of this country, there has been a very serious bounce back from these types of situations. A lot of these jobs that are being cut, is it fair to say it’s a lot of tech jobs?
“Some of these tech jobs are work-from-home. If you’re working from home all the time, for the last four, five years, and you get let go. Now you are forced to go through LinkedIn because your network outside of home is not what it used to be. There are a lot of people who have lost their network because they have stayed at home,” Gee continued.
Massive tech companies like Seattle-based Amazon announced a wave of layoffs in October, affecting 14,000 corporate employees. Additionally, UPS confirmed it would cut nearly 34,000 workers, among several other layoff announcements from corporate giants including Starbucks, Delta, Carmax, Rivian, and Paramount.
“The times when you go through the hardest bit of adversity are the times when you’re in better shape to get to what’s new,” Gee said. “If you look back and see when you’ve had some of the worst times of your life, whatever year that was, I bet you, in those next two to three years, life got better. Here’s why: that is the time when you’re really vulnerable, and willing to go out there, not thinking you know it all, and actually get to work.”
Watch the full discussion in the video above.
Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.
