Recent Updates
- Japan: ** Japan IP forecasts have rebased from 2010=100 to 2015=100. We are currently working on processing the new data.**
- ** New Zealand Jobs Online has changed its reported frequency from monthly to quarterly and rebased from August 2010=100 to Q4 2010=100. **
- Turkey: International Reserves (Mar); Mauritius: PPI Press (Mar)
- Spain: Flash GDP (Q1), Retail Trade (Mar)
- France: Preliminary CPI (Apr), Household Consumption of Manufactured Products (Mar)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Kansas City Federal Reserve Factory Index Hits Record High
The Kansas City Fed reported that its index of regional manufacturing sector business activity surged to a record 26...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Decline Sharply
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell sharply to 209,000 (-17.1% y/y)...
German Confidence Flattens and Falters
German confidence for May is mooted at a 97.8% queue percentile standing...
U.S. Mortgage Loan Applications Are Little Changed; Rates Remain High
The MBA total Mortgage Applications Volume Index eased 0.2% last week (-1.9% y/y)...
Japan Shows Very Moderate Growth As Trade War Clouds Gather
Japan’s sector indexes showed a solid gain in February...
by Tom Moeller April 4, 2013
The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that 49,225 job cuts were announced during March. This latest level was down m/m but remained up from the the recovery low of 32,239 reached last August. Job cuts declined m/m in the entertainment, financial, automotive, chemical, electronics and media industries.
During the last ten years there has been a 67% correlation between the three-month moving average of announced job cuts and the three-month change in payroll employment. Job cut announcements differ from layoffs. Many are achieved through attrition, early retirement or just never occur.
Challenger also samples firms' hiring plans and they dropped by one-third versus last year.
The Challenger figures are available in Haver's SURVEYS database.
Unconventional Monetary Policy and the Dollar from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is available here.
| Challenger, Gray & Christmas | Mar | Feb | Jan | Y/Y% | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announced Job Cuts | 49,255 | 55,356 | 40,430 | 30.0 | 523,362 | 606,082 | 529,973 |
| Announced Hiring Plans | 8,115 | 92,372 | 60,585 | 34.5 | 630,447 | 537,572 | 402,638 |
