In what’s being reported as the largest workforce reduction in company history, Verizon is preparing to cut approximately 13,000 jobs.
The telecom giant, which employed about 100,000 people at the end of 2024, is racing to stay competitive in a tough wireless service and home internet market, according to CBS News (1).
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Most of the layoffs will come from direct cuts, with another wave coming that’s tied to Verizon transitioning about 200 corporate stores into franchise operations, shifting those workers off of its payroll.
The news comes about a month after Verizon named Daniel Schulman as its new CEO. With Verizon losing ground as rivals snap up subscribers, Schulman said he was ready to overhaul the entire organization when he took the job in October.
“Verizon is at a critical inflection point,” Schulman said on the company’s recent earnings call, according to The Wall Street Journal (2). “We have a tremendous amount of opportunity to be more efficient, to be scrappier. Cost reductions will be a way of life for us here.”
Verizon isn’t acting alone
The third quarter of 2025 was not very kind to Verizon, as the company reportedly lost 7,000 consumer postpaid phone customers despite Wall Street analysts expecting growth of 19,000. Meanwhile, rivals T-Mobile and AT&T continue to grow their number of postpaid subscribers (2).
In order to right the ship, the company’s shake-up began with hiring Schulman, who was the former CEO at PayPal and Virgin Mobile USA. Upon taking the job, Schulman said he was gearing up to slash costs across the board in an attempt to put an end to the company’s customer losses.
However, Verizon isn’t cutting jobs in a vacuum. In fact, the company now joins a growing list of corporate heavyweights — including Amazon, UPS, Target and Nestle — that are cutting jobs in an effort to protect margins or invest heavily in automation and artificial intelligence (3).
Here are the industries with the biggest job cuts in 2025:
- Tech: This industry has seen more than 184,000 layoffs this year, with more than 50,000 being tied to the adoption of AI and automation (4)
- Logistics & retail: UPS and Target are downsizing, with the impact of tariffs playing a role in the decision to cut jobs (5)
- Telecom: Verizon’s cuts follow subscriber losses and heavy competitive pressure in the wireless market
Making matters worse, we may be completely unaware of just how bad things really are with employment in America. Thanks to the lengthy government shutdown, the October jobs report will reportedly not include the unemployment rate for the month.
President Trump’s economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, told Fox News that “the household survey wasn’t conducted in October, so we’re going to get half the employment report. We’ll get the jobs part, but we won’t get the unemployment rate. And that’ll just be for one month (6)."
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What Americans can do to protect themselves
Whether you work in telecom or another industry, Verizon’s job cuts serve as a reminder that no job is guaranteed and that being prepared beats being blindsided by a sudden layoff.
Here’s how to get ahead of a potential loss of income:
1. Tighten up your budget
Go through your budget and try to make some of the necessary spending cuts now, before a potential layoff forces you to curb your spending. It’s typically easier to make smart money moves like this when you’re gainfully employed as opposed to being in a panic over the loss of income.
2. Build your emergency fund
It’s always a good idea to prepare for whatever life may throw at you with an emergency fund. After all, you never know when a surprise trip to the mechanic or an emergency medical expense will hit your wallet.
An emergency fund can also keep you afloat if you were to suddenly lose your job. Aim for three-to-six months’s worth of living expenses saved on hand for any unexpected job losses.
3. Stay relevant
If you haven’t touched your resume, LinkedIn profile or your portfolio in a while, now’s a good time to dust these things off. Employers that are hiring often move fast, so make sure your online presence is putting your best foot forward.
4. Stay connected
Many people don’t relish the idea of networking in a traditional sense, but building or strengthening your professional relationships can be a crucial element to maintaining employment.
Try reconnecting with former coworkers, managers and mentors, as you never know who may be willing to give you a job recommendation somewhere down the road. According to Zippia, referrals are 4x more likely to get a job offer than applicants who simply apply for a job online (7).
5. Upskill while you still have a paycheck
It’s never too late to learn something new. Whether you’re exploring an area you’re already working in to gain additional accreditations or you’re trying something completely new, working on yourself is a great way to increase your value as a potential employee.
6. Add a second income stream
If you can carve out time for freelance or part-time work, adding a side hustle to your income can go a long way in giving you some extra financial breathing room if things go sideways.
There’s no time like the present to get your finances and your career plan in order. Preparation might not save you from a potential layoff, but it can help soften the blow if you happen to lose your job.
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Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
CBS News (1); The Wall Street Journal (2); Yahoo Finance (3); LinkedIn (4); AfroTech (5); Reuters (6); Zippia (7)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.