Global| Oct 06 2010Challenger Layoffs Tick Higher But Hiring Plans Jump
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
The outplacement firm of Challenger, Grey & Christmas indicated that the level of layoffs during September increased slightly to 37,151 but that was still near the smallest number since June of 2000. The level remains down by more [...]
The outplacement firm of Challenger, Grey & Christmas indicated that the
level of layoffs during September increased slightly to 37,151 but that was
still near the smallest number since June of 2000. The level remains down by
more than one-half from last year. Planned layoffs announced during the first
nine months of 2010 totaled 411,272, down two-thirds from 1,136,908 announced
during the first nine months of 2009. Despite the decline in layoffs, the
unemployment rate from the Census Department remains high as the number of
long-term unemployed has surged.
Layoffs rose in September in the aerospace & defense, chemical, financial, food, government, pharmaceutical and transportation industries. Layoffs fell in apparel, automotive, computer, consumer goods, entertainment/leisure, health care, industrial goods, insurance, media, retail, services and utilities. 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 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 jumped last month by 123,076, up five times from the year-ago level. Plans jumped in the industrial goods and services industries.
The Challenger figures are available in Haver's SURVEYS database.
| Challenger, Gray & Christmas | September | August | July | Y/Y | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announced Job Cuts | 37,151 | 34,768 | 41,676 | -44.1% | 1,288,030 | 1,223,993 | 768,264 |
| Announced Hiring Plans | 123,076 | 14,075 | 8,151 | 391.4% | 272,573 | 118,600 | 365 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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