The U.S. saw its highest level of layoffs in a first quarter since 2009, data from staffing firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released Thursday showed.

By the numbers: Employers cut 190,410 jobs in the first 3 months of the year — 10.3% higher than the number of layoffs announced in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 35.6% higher than job cuts announced in the same quarter of 2018.

The impact: It’s the highest number of job cuts in a quarter since 2015.

Details: The financial industry saw the third highest number of layoffs and the year-to-date total was 239% higher than it was in 2018.

• Retailers continue to lead all sectors in job cuts this year with 46,061 in Q1. However, that number is 18.5% lower than retail cuts announced in Q1 2018.
• Retailers have announced plans to close 4,048 stores so far this year.

The bottom line: The report said worry about an economic slowdown was the main driver of companies’ layoff intentions.

Go deeper … “Job market is weakening”: Private payroll job growth hits 18-month low