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Economy in Brief
U.S. Empire State Manufacturing Index Plummets in August; Lowest Since May '20
The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions plunged to -31.3 in August...
U.S. Import and Export Prices Fall in July; Deepest Since April 2020
Import prices fell 1.4% m/m (8.8% y/y) in July...
U.S. Housing Affordability Declines Further in June
The NAR Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index fell 3.6% in June...
EMU Output Makes Solid Gain in June
The European Monetary Union posted a 0.7% increase for industrial output in June...
U.S. Producer Prices Fall During July; Core Increase Weakens
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand fell 0.5% during July...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller October 5, 2005
Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported that job cut announcements rose a slight 1.8% in September to 71,836 following a 31.5% m/m drop during August. The three month average of job cut announcements fell 13.8% to 81,793 (-2.5% y/y).
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.
Moderate increases in job cut announcements were scattered throughout industry but large m/m increases in retail (688.4% y/y), consumer goods (-21.3% y/y) and electronics (72.8% y/y) were offset by declines in insurance (20.4% y/y), telecommunications (-91.3% y/y) and pharmaceuticals (67.5% y/y).
Job cut announcements differ from layoffs. Many are achieved through attrition, early retirement or just never occur.
Challenger also reported that announced hiring plans fell sharply m/m (-3.1% y/y).
Challenger, Gray & Christmas | Sept | Aug | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Announced Job Cuts | 71,836 | 70,571 | -33.4% | 1,039,175 | 1,236,426 | 1,431,052 |