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Economy in Brief
U.S. Home Builder Index Holds Steady
The NAHB-Wells Fargo Composite Housing Market Index was unchanged (+6.8% y/y) at 68 during July...
U.S. Gasoline Price Steady; Crude Oil Falls Sharply
Retail gasoline prices edged up to $2.87 per gallon last week (+25.8% y/y)...
European Car Registrations Show Modest Rebound
European car registrations rose by 0.4% in June, a much slower pace than the 5.7% gain in May...
U.S. Retail Sales Gain Moderates
Consumers continued spending last month, but at a moderated pace...
U.S. Business Inventories Rise Moderately; Sales Strengthen
Total business inventories increased 0.4% (4.4% y/y) during May...
by Tom Moeller March 4, 2009
Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported that February job cut announcements eased slightly to 186,350 following 241,749 layoffs during January. Challenger also reported that announced hiring plans reversed much of the strong January gain.
Job cut announcements in the automotive sector surged to 61,288 and the financial business shed 13,550 jobs. Employment in the retail industry fell 18,759. Employment in the industrial goods industry again was quite weak and 19,462 jobs were lost while 3,960 were shed from the computer industry. From the pharmaceutical industry there were 8,806 layoffs and the electronics industry shed another 11,065 jobs
During the last ten years there has been a 67% (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 Challenger figures are available in Haver's SURVEYS database.
The Term Structure of Inflation Expectations from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is available here.
| Challenger, Gray & Christmas | February | January | Y/Y | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announced Job Cuts | 186,350 | 241,749 | 158.5% | 1,223,993 | 768,264 | 839,822 |
