New Delhi: Offering some respite to the layoff season, a new report showed that US job cuts plunged 49 percent in June to a seven-month low, a sign that the worst is over. Might be possible. According to a report by career services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. US-based employers announced 40,709 cutbacks in June, down 49 percent from the 80,089 cutbacks announced in May.
According to a report, this is 25 per cent higher than the 32,517 declared in the same month a year ago. Despite the decline, June’s total is the sixth time this year that cuts were higher than the same month a year ago.
The report noted, “Employers have announced 458,209 layoffs so far this year, up 244 percent from the 133,211 layoffs announced through June 2022.” This is the highest in the first half since 2020 when 1,585,047 deductions were recorded.
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This is the highest January to June figure since 2009, excluding 2020, when 896,675 job cuts were announced.
Andrew Challenger, senior vice president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said, “It is not unusual for the summer months to decline in cuts. In fact, June has historically been the slowest month on average for announcements.”
It is also possible, he said, that the huge job losses predicted due to inflation and interest rates, especially with the Fed keeping rates in check, will not happen. Companies announced 187,793 cutbacks in the second quarter, up 142 percent from the 77,715 cutbacks announced in the second quarter of 2022.
This is 31 percent less than the 270,416 cuts announced in the previous quarter. Technology leads the way in job cut announcements this year, with 141,516 job cuts, up 2,353 percent from the 5,769 cut announced in the same period last year.
Retail companies in the US announced the second largest cut this year with 48,212 job cuts, up 718 percent from the 5,896 cutbacks announced during the same time last year.
Services firms announced 31,820 cutbacks in the first half of the year, up 163 percent from the 12,081 cutbacks announced in that sector during the same time in 2022. “Cutbacks at service firms may reflect the cost-cutting that many companies are preparing for the economic downturn,” Challenger said.
There were 18,836 layoffs in the media industry this year. Of those, 2,091 were in digital, broadcast and print news. The report said US employers have announced plans to add 115,462 positions so far in 2023, the lowest in the first half since 2016, when 76,751 new hires were recorded.