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Economy in Brief
U.S. FHFA House Price Index Improves Minimally
The FHFA U.S. house price index nudged 0.1% higher (6.4% y/y) during April...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Down Slightly
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 218,000 during the week ended June 16...
U.S. Existing Home Sales Decline While Prices Rise
The NAR U.S. existing home sales fell 0.4% (-3.0% y/y) during May to 5.430 million units (AR)...
U.S. Current Account Deficit Widens
The U.S. current account deficit rose to $124.1 billion during Q1 2018...
German PPI Sees Pressure, But Core Rate Is Much Less Affected
Germany has a history of being ‘unreasonable’ about inflation...
by Tom Moeller August 3, 2005
Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported that job cut announcements fell 7.2% in July to 102,971 but that followed sharp gains both in May (42.2%) and June (34.9%). The three month average of job cut announcements rose to the highest level (98,750) since February.
During the last ten years there has been an 84% (inverse) correlation between the three month moving average of announced job cuts and the three month change payroll employment.
Job cut announcements in the automotive industry fell sharply after increasing ten-fold in June. Job cuts also fell in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries but increases were quite strong in the financial, insurance, electronics and computer industries.
Job cut announcements differ from layoffs. Many are achieved through attrition, early retirement or just never occur.
Challenger also reported that announced hiring plans rose (1.1% y/y).
| Challenger, Gray & Christmas | July | June | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announced Job Cuts | 102,971 | 110,996 | 48.0% | 1,039,175 | 1,236,426 | 1,431,052 |
