Layoffs Down 19% From 2011 and Lowest Since 1997

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.

Employers have now announced 386,001 planned job cuts in 2012, which is 19 percent fewer than the 479,064 job cuts recorded by this point last year.  One has to go back to 1997 to find fewer job cuts announced through the first nine months of the year.  That year, employers announced 281,496 job cuts through September.

Contributing to the decline in monthly job cut figures is the significant drop-off in the number of layoffs announced by the government sector.  These employers announced just 14,186 job cuts through September, compared to 119,027 by this point in 2011.  Continue Reading

Private Sector Added 163,000 More Jobs in June

Employment in the U.S. nonfarm private business sector increased by 163,000 from June to July, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The estimated gain from May to June was revised down slightly, from the initial estimate of 176,000 to 172,000. Public sector layoffs — particularly at the state and local level — have been the primary drag on the employment numbers for months. These public sector numbers won’t be known until Friday’s report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continue Reading

753,000 Job Gains in 3rd Quarter 2011 Largest Since 2006

From June to September 2011 gross job gains from opening and expanding
private sector establishments were 7.1 million, an increase of 166,000
jobs from the previous quarter, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Over this period, gross job losses from closing and
contracting private sector establishments were 6.3 million, a decrease
of 9,000 jobs from the previous quarter.

The difference between the number of gross job gains and gross job
losses yielded a net employment change of 753,000 jobs in the private
sector during the third quarter of 2011. This is the largest net job
gain since the first quarter of 2006.
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Federal Agencies Cutting Jobs — Even Military, Intelligence Aren’t Safe

Not even the nation’s ranks of spies will be safe from federal budget cuts, according to a recent article at Wired.com.   Major cuts to the intelligence community’s $80 billion annual budget could result in widespread job cuts across the various spy agencies.   With a mandate to cut federal spending by $2.1 trillion over the next decade, every government agency is at risk of job cutting, including the military.

Over the past two months, multiple military branches have announced personnel reductions totaling more than 67,000.  Meanwhile, the United States Postal Service, which is facing financial insolvency resulting from significant declines in mail volume and retiree health benefit prefunding costs imposed by Congress, has proposed a plan that would cut its workforce by 220,000 between now and 2015 (100,000 of which would come from attrition). Continue Reading