Recent Updates
- Japan: NCI Economic Activity Index (Aug)
- US: NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (Aug)
- Canada: Wholesale trade, MSIO (June)
- Pakistan: Foreign Currency Deposits and Utilization (JUL)
- US: Empire State Mfg Survey (Aug)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
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...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Continue on an Uptrend
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended August 6 rose 14,000 to 262,000...
RICS Survey Points to More U.K. Housing Sector Weakness
The survey of housing market conditions in the U.K. continues to show strength in prices versus weakness...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller December 7, 2005
Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported that job cut announcements in November rose for the third consecutive month. The 22.1% rise to 99,279 followed a 13.2% rise the prior month and pulled the three month average of job cut announcements up to 84,139 (-19.7% 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.
Job cut announcements differ from layoffs. Many are achieved through attrition, early retirement or just never occur.
The aerospace (+251% y/y) and auto (+42% y/y) industries reported notable m/m increases in layoffs as did the financial (22.0% y/y) and the pharmaceutical (1,046% y/y) industries. These increases were somewhat offset by declines in retail (-31.8% y/y) and telecommunications (-71.2% y/y).
Challenger also reported that announced hiring plans rose sharply (413.8% y/y) for the second consecutive month.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas | Nov | Oct | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Announced Job Cuts | 99,279 | 81,301 | -5.0% | 1,039,175 | 1,236,426 | 1,431,052 |