Recent Updates
- France: Registered Unemployment & Vacancies (Mar), Monthly Household Survey (Apr)
- Germany: Construction Orders, Employment, & Turnover (Feb), IAB Labor Market Barometer, IFO Business Climate Survey (Apr)
- Saudi Arabia: WPI (Mar); Israel: Person-Nights in Tourist Hotels (Mar)
- Norway: Earnings (2017)
- Austria: Industrial Production, New Orders (Feb)
- Spain: PPI (Mar)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. New Home Sales and Prices Strengthen
Sales of new single-family homes during March increased 4.0% (8.8% y/y) to 694,000 (SAAR)...
U.S. FHFA House Price Index Continues to Strengthen
The FHFA index of U.S. house prices rose 0.6% during February...
U.S. Energy Prices Rise Further
Retail gasoline prices increased to $2.80 per gallon last week (14.3% y/y)...
Italian Confidence Backtracks But Remains High-Valued As It Is for France and Germany
From Q1 2008 to date, Italian GDP actually has failed to grow and has declined by 5.8%...
U.S. Existing Home Sales & Prices Rise Again
The NAR reported that sales of existing homes increased 1.1% during March (-1.2% y/y) to 5.600 million units (AR)...
by Tom Moeller October 1, 2008
Job cut announcements rose 7.2% to 95,094 in September reversing half of their August decline, according to the Challenger, Grey & Christmas survey.
The three-month level layoffs also increased to 95,714 and was near the highest level since early 2006.
The rise in layoffs last month was led by a huge 25,221 rise in the computer industry and a 8,288 rise in the apparel industry. Declines in layoffs were registered in the automotive, electronics and in the industrial goods industries. Layoffs also fell in insurance industry and in the telecommunication businesses
During the last ten years there has been a 76% (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.
Challenger also reported that announced hiring plans fell m/m and they were down 2.6% y/y.
| Challenger, Gray & Christmas | September | August | Y/Y | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announced Job Cuts | 95,094 | 88,736 | 32.6% | 768,264 | 839,822 | 1,072,054 |
