April Job Cuts Fall to 4-Month Low with 38,121

Job cuts fell to their lowest level since December, as U.S. employers announced plans to trim payrolls by 38,121 in April, according to the latest report on downsizing activity released Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

April job cuts were 23 percent lower than March, when announced layoffs totaled 49,255.  They were 6.0 percent lower than the 40,559 planned job cuts announced in April 2012.  April represents the lowest job-cut month since last December, when 32,556 were tracked by Challenger.

Through the first four months of 2013, the pace of downsizing is virtually equal to a year ago.  Employers have announced 183,162 job cuts to date, which is only 0.27 percent lower than the 183,653 planned layoffs announced in the first four months of 2012.

“The economic slowdown that began late in the third quarter and is expected to turn into another summer slump has yet to result in increased or widespread downsizing.  The biggest concern is that consumers, who had been holding up the economy for so many months, are starting to scale back their spending as wages continue to stagnate,” said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Consumer spending was up 0.2 percent in March, due primarily to increased heating costs during the unseasonably cold month.  Spending in other categories, such as household goods, retail and restaurants declined in March, according to the Commerce Department.

Read the full report here.

US Employers Announce 49,255 Job Cuts In March

The nation’s employers reported job cuts totaling 49,255 in March, a decline of 11 percent from the 55,356 cuts announced in February, according to the latest report on downsizing activity released Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.  Despite the decline, quarterly job cuts reached their highest level since 2011.

March job cuts were 30 percent higher than a year ago, when employers announced plans to shed 37,880 workers from their payrolls.  This marks the second consecutive month and the fourth time in the last six months that the job-cut total was higher than the year-ago figure.

Employers have now announced 145,041 job cuts through the first three months of 2013.  That 5.6 percent higher than the previous quarter’s 137,361 job cuts and 1.4 percent higher than the 143,094 job cuts announced in the first quarter of 2012.  The first-quarter total is, in fact, the highest quarterly tally since 233,258 job cuts were tracked in the third quarter of 2011.

Get the full report here.

February Job Cuts Jump 37%, Financial Leads

Planned job cuts increased for the second consecutive month in February as U.S.-based employers announced workforce reductions totaling 55,356, up 37 percent from 40,430 in January, according to the report released Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

The February total was 7.0 percent higher than the 51,728 job cuts announced the same month a year ago.  It was the highest monthly tally since last November, when announced layoffs reached 57,081.

Employers have now announced 95,786 job cuts so far in 2013.  That is 9.0 percent fewer than the 105,214 job cuts through the first two months of 2012.

The financial sector dominated job cuts last month, with firms announcing 21,724 planned layoffs, the most since 31,167 were announced in September 2011.  Last month’s total was nearly three times more than the 7,611 job cuts announced by financial institutions in January.  Employers in this sector have now announced 30,302 job cuts this year, which is nearly 75 percent of the 41,008 financial job cuts announced in all of 2012.

Get the full report here.

January Job Cuts Rise 24%

The nation’s employers announced plans to cut payrolls by 40,430 jobs in January, up 24 percent from 32,556 in December, according to the latest report on planned job cuts released Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

While January job cuts were up from the previous month, they were 24 percent lower than the 53,486 layoffs announced by employers the same month a year ago.  This was, in fact, the third lowest January total in Challenger records going back to 1993.  The only years to see fewer January job cuts were 1995 (38,962) and 2011 (38,519).

Not only was the January total among the lowest on record, but it appears that the planned layoffs announced last month will be more than offset by planned hiring.  Planned hiring announcements, which represent a small fraction of the actual hiring activity in the economy, totaled 60,585 in January.

Get the full report here.

2012 Year End Job Cut Report: Lowest Annual Total Since 1997

After three consecutive months of  increased layoff activity, the number of  planned job cuts announced in December plunged to 32,556, the second lowest monthly total of 2012.  Overall, the year ends with the lowest 12-month job-cut total since 1997, according to the latest report from global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

The 32,556 planned job cuts announced last month were 43 percent fewer than the 57,081 November cuts.  The December total was 22 percent lower than a year ago, when employers announced 41,785 in the final month of the year.  The only month in 2012 to see fewer job cuts than December was August, when job cuts totaled 32,239.

Despite the December decline, planned layoffs in the fourth quarter were up 33 percent from the previous quarter.  Employers announced 137,361 job cuts in the final three months of year, compared to 102,910 in the third quarter.  The third-quarter total was the lowest quarterly total since 81,568 job cuts were announced in the second quarter of 2000.

Due in large part to the slow pace of downsizing in the third quarter, annual job cuts totaled 523,362, which is the lowest year-end total since 1997, when employers announced 434,350 job cuts during the year.  The 2012 total was 14 percent lower than the 606,082 job cuts announced in 2011.

Get full report here.

November Job Cuts Reach 57,081

Job cuts increased for the third consecutive month in November, as employers announced plans to shed 57,081 workers from their payrolls.  That was up 20 percent from the previous month when announced layoffs totaled 47,724, according to the latest report from global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

November cuts were 34 percent higher than the 42,474 job cuts announced by employers in the eleventh month of 2011.  Last month was only the fourth time this year that job cuts exceeded 50,000.

Employers have now announced 490,806 job cuts this year.  Despite the faster pace of downsizing as the year comes to a close, the year-to-date total is 13 percent lower than the 564,297 job cuts announced through November 2011.

The November surge was led by the food industry, which saw 19,709 cuts during the month.  The bulk of those resulted from the bankruptcy of Hostess Brands which, after years of declining sales of its high-calorie snack cakes in a more health-conscious America, was forced to shutter its operations and dismiss all 18,500 employees.

The next largest job-cutting industry was the computer sector, which announced 3,313 job cuts in November.  That was up 208 percent from the 1,076 announced by these firms in October.  The computer industry remains the top job-cut industry for the year, with a total of 45,060 announced layoffs since January.  About 60 percent of those cuts, however, were the result of the 27,000 job cuts announced by Hewlett-Packard in May.

Get the full report here.

October Job Cuts Jump 41% To 47,724

Planned job cuts by U.S.-based employers surged 41 percent in October to 47,724, as a spate of layoff announcements in the wake of weak quarterly earnings reports helped push downsizing activity to its highest level in five months, according to the report on monthly job cuts released Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

The October surge follows a relatively mild September, during which employers announced 33,816 job cuts, which was the second lowest monthly total in the last 22 months.  October was the highest job-cut month since May, when 61,887 planned layoffs were announced.  It was up 12 percent from the same month a year ago, when employers announced plans to trim payrolls by 42,759 workers.

Despite last month’s sharp increase, layoffs for the year are still well below last year’s pace.  Through 10 months, employers announced 433,725 job cuts, 17 percent fewer than the 521,823 cuts announced between January and October 2011.

The automotive sector led the surge in October job cuts, announcing plans to shed 11,615 workers.  The October total is more than the 10,405 job cuts announced by this sector over the previous nine months.  The new year-to-date-total of 22,020 is more than double the 10,593 job cuts announced by the automotive sector in all of 2011.

The bulk of last month’s automotive job cuts were by the Ford Motor Co., which announced a plant closing in Belgium that will affect 9,500 workers.  Another 1,400 Ford workers in the United Kingdom are also being laid off.  Both workforce reductions were the direct result of the ongoing European economic crisis.

September Job Cuts Up Slightly To 33,816

Downsizing activity remained relatively flat in September as US-based employers announced plans to cut 33,816 jobs from their payrolls during the month.  That was up 4.9 percent from a 20-month low of 32,239 job cuts in August, according to the latest report released Thursday by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

Last month’s total was 71 percent lower than a year ago, when planned job cuts unexpectedly surged to a 29-month high of 115,730.   It was, in fact, the lowest September total since 1997 when only 20,698 were announced.

September brings to an end one of the slowest job-cut quarters in over a decade.  Employers announced 102,910 job cuts in the third quarter, down 27 percent from the previous quarter (139,997), and 56 percent lower than the third quarter of 2011 (233,258).  It was the lowest quarterly total since the second quarter of 2000, when planned layoffs numbered 81,568.

Get the full report here.

August Job Cuts Drop to 20-Month Low of 32,239

Employers announced plans to shed 32,239 workers from their payrolls in August.  It was the fewest number of monthly job cuts by US-based firms since December 2010, when layoffs totaled 32,004, according to the latest job cuts report released Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

August job cuts were down 12.5 percent from a July total of 36,855, making it the third consecutive decline in monthly job cuts.  Last month was 37 percent lower than August 2011, when employers announced plans to eliminate 51,114 positions from their ranks.

Since January 1, employers have announced 352,185 planned job cuts.  That is nearly unchanged from a year ago; down three percent from the 2011 8-month total of 363,334.  Fewer job cuts over the last three months have effectively reversed a trend that saw increased downsizing through the first half of 2012.  At the midway point of the year, 2012 job cuts were 15 percent higher than at the same point in 2011.

Read the full report here.

July Job Cuts Hold Steady at 36,855

Planned layoffs declined for the second consecutive month in July, as employers announced job cuts totaling 36,855, down 2.0 percent from 37,551 in June, according to the latest job cuts report released Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

Job cuts last month were down 45 percent from a year ago, when employers announced plans to cut 66,414 workers from their payrolls in July.  This is just the third time this year employers announced fewer cuts than the same month in 2011.

Overall, employers have announced 319,946 job cuts so far this year.  The pace of downsizing is virtually even with a year ago; up just 2.5 percent from the 312,220 planned layoffs announced from January through July.

July job cuts were led by employers in the financial sector, which announced 6,156 planned layoffs during the month.  That is largest number of monthly job cuts announced by this industry since January, when financial job cuts totaled 7,611.

Read the full report here.