Across industries, companies are reducing their management layers. According to research from Live Data Technologies reported by The Wall Street Journal, the number of managers fell 6.1% between May 2022 and May 2025, while executive-level roles declined 4.6%.
Estee Lauder and Match Group recently announced cutting around 20% of their managers. UPS, Citigroup, Amazon, and Google have also been working to streamline management structures.
Small and midsize businesses are following suit. At these organizations, the average supervisor now oversees six direct reports — double the number from five years ago, according to data from Gusto reported by Bloomberg.
As a result, many laid-off managers are competing for a shrinking pool of roles.
“I haven’t been on the job market for two years, so I didn’t realize how tumultuous it is,” says Tiffany Fuentes, 33, of Fort Mohave, Arizona.
Fuentes was laid off in June when her tech company cut 50% of its staff. Despite her experience in recruitment, she’s been surprised by the fierce competition.
“I didn’t realize there were so many job seekers with the same degrees [and] employment history that I have, and that it would be this difficult to find employment,” she says.
After posting about her search on LinkedIn, she received messages from people saying they’d been job hunting for a year or more.
“It’s really heartbreaking to see so many people in the workforce all at the same time trying to find those jobs.”
Even when she lands an interview, the process has been disappointing. She recently prepared for a video interview for a role that would have been a step back in her career, only for the interviewer to never show up.
“For me to get dressed and ready and be on the call really excited with my research … when that person doesn’t show up, it’s a little gut-wrenching,” she says. She never heard back from the employer.
Managers face pay cuts and job security fears
Fuentes has accepted that she may need to take a lower title and salary in today’s market. She’s not alone. According to Glassdoor, 22% of managers are accepting pay cuts to land new roles, while 32% of managers moving to individual contributor positions are doing the same.
Confidence among mid-level employees has dropped as well, with employee sentiment down 4.5 percentage points from last year.
That fear of sudden layoffs is motivating some to look for new roles even while employed.
A 27-year-old product director for a Chicago startup, who asked to remain anonymous, has been job hunting for two months despite holding a full-time role. She says she feels underpaid and worries about her company’s stability.
“[I’m] trying to make sure that I’m not in a position that a lot of people are right now, which sucks, where they’re just laid off and then s--- out of luck.”
At her startup, she managed four direct reports and acted as a skip-level manager for about 80 people. But she says translating her startup experience into traditional roles is tough.
“For roles I feel would be a next step in my career, the job ads show ‘you need to have 12 years of experience,’ and the salary is awesome — but it’s almost like that would be a VP level,” she says. “And the role right underneath that is non-existent.”
Cutting middle management has cultural costs
Leadership experts warn that trimming middle management may have unintended consequences for employee engagement and culture. Effective managers help connect staff to leadership and company goals, preventing burnout and attrition.
PR professional Stacey Dillon, 47, agrees. She quit her managerial job in December 2024 and started looking for a new one a month later, optimistic about the job market in her new home of Phoenix.
But the search hasn’t gone as expected.
“The last time around, I was hired in two weeks,” she says of landing her last role in 2021. “This time the process has felt longer, more mysterious and ambiguous, and far more competitive.”
She’s seen promising jobs vanish overnight, get outsourced, or be restructured.
Dillon describes being recruited for one role that had been vacant for six months. She completed a five-hour assessment — and then never heard back, though the online system still says her application is under consideration. For another role she was recruited to apply for, she says she was ghosted for two months.
She’s learned to approach the process as more than a logical transaction.
“In this job market I’m reminded that career transitions aren’t just logical — they’re emotional — and human connection has become a core part of how I job search.”
Networking has become vital for Dillon to get leads, referrals, and contract work in the meantime.
“Middle management is often misunderstood, but it’s essential, not just for operations, but for culture, mentorship and wisdom,” she says.
Companies hope AI will help them do more with less
While layoffs have often been a response to recessions, many companies in recent years have trimmed staff despite strong sales and profits. Leaders aim to boost efficiency, and many see AI as a way to do so.
According to a World Economic Forum survey in January, 41% of employers plan to reduce their workforce by 2030 with the help of AI automation.
Bob Friedland, a 50-year-old PR professional in Little Falls, New Jersey, says cutting middle managers in favor of AI would be a mistake.
“When you’re dealing with a CEO, they don’t expect to have to double-check the work; they expect the work to come to them done and ready,” he says. Junior employees may not have the experience to ensure work done with AI is fully accurate. “So if you remove that middle layer, you’re actually removing an important piece that can act as that gut check.”
“Will AI speed us up? Yes. Can it replace certain functions? Yes. Can it replace every middle manager? Probably not.”
Friedland was laid off two years ago and has applied to about 750 roles since. He says the sheer number of applicants for many openings makes it difficult to stand out.
“There’s a lot of movement in the industry,” he says. “But it’s just impossible to get seen.”
To make ends meet, he launched his own consultancy, which has brought him freelance clients. He’s also used the time to strengthen his professional network, land interviews, and take on new projects at home — something he didn’t prioritize when working full-time.
“I was very much a workaholic,” he says.