2020 will go down as a shitty year for most of us and for many in the media, it led to being unemployed.

Research shows that media industry layoffs are poised to reach an all-time high in 2020 due in large part to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Hill writes that an estimated 28,637 cuts were reported in the industry by late October, Variety, citing data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, reported, nearly as many as the record 28,803 reported in the media sector in 2008. By comparison, the sector saw just over 10,000 job losses in 2019 and 15,474 in 2018.

Job losses spiked in May during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. After a June drop-off, layoffs increased again over the summer, dropping to pre-pandemic levels in September and October.

ABC, NBC, and CBS all instituted layoffs in 2020, along with local media groups like Meredith. Tegna furlough employees, while Meredith cut staffers’ pay.

The first part of 2021 does not look very promising as the virus will still be impacting the economy and it will not be an election year.

Hopefully, with a virus vaccine close, we will see things getting back closer to normal around May or June of next year.

Let’s just hope that 2021 is nothing close to 2020. I’m not sure many of us could take it.