Job Cuts Up From September But Down From a Year Ago

John Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas

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.   Continue Reading