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40% of people are fired from a job in their lifetime.
Research Summary: Getting fired isn’t fun. But the percentage of people who get fired is higher than you’d think. So don’t feel bad if you’ve been terminated from a job in the past, because our research shows that:
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40% of Americans have been fired from a job.
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15.4 million Americans were laid off in 2022, a 62% decrease from 2020.
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Firing an employee that will be replaced costs between 16.1% and 20.4% of their annual salary, rising as high as 213% for senior executives.
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The layoff and discharge rate across private industrties was 1% from February to June of 2022.
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The percentage of people fired in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry in June 2022 was 2.8%, the highest of any workers.
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The percentage of people fired in the federal government in June 2022 was 0.2%, the lowest of any workers.
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70% of people aged 26-30 have never been fired, compared with only 50% of people aged 61-65.
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Getting fired isn’t the end of your professional career — 91% of executives who were fired ended up finding a position as good or better than their last.
| Year | Total layoffs (in millions) |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.4M |
| 2021 | 17.0M |
| 2020 | 40.8M |
| 2019 | 21.9M |
| 2018 | 21.8M |
| 2017 | 21.6M |
References
Layoffs and discharges levels and rates by industry and region — Bureau of Labor Statistics
There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees — Center for American Progress
Research: When Getting Fired Is Good for Your Career — Harvard Business Review
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Author
Matthew Zane is the lead editor of Zippia's How To Get A Job Guides. He is a teacher, writer, and world-traveler that wants to help people at every stage of the career life cycle. He completed his masters in American Literature from Trinity College Dublin and BA in English from the University of Connecticut.
