Challenger Sees Job Cuts Slowing In November

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas announced Thursday that downsizing activity by U.S.-based employers declined by 30 percent in November, with 35,940 planned job cuts announced.

The report comes amid the release of initial jobless claims for the last week of November at 297,000, above expectations of 295,000.

The November slowdown in job cuts comes one month after job cuts surged 70 percent to 51,183 in October. The November total was 21 percent lower than the 45,314 job cuts announced the same month a year ago.

The second leading job-cut industry to date is the retail sector, which has announced 41,588 job cuts this year, including 2,640 last month.

Heading into the final month of the year, employers have announced 450,531 job cuts, to date. That is down 5.8 percent from 478,428 at the same point in 2013. Currently, job cuts are on pace to finish 2014 with the lowest year-end total since 1997.

The industries with the highest cuts year-to-date were as follows:

Computer: 58,207 vs. 29,558 in 2013
Retail: 41,588 vs. 47,030 in 2013
Health Care/Products: 35,462 vs. 50,492 in 2013
Entertainment/Leisure: 30,586 vs. 13,263 in 2013
Financial: 26,953 vs. 59,189 in 2013

The report indicated year-to-date announced hiring plans totaled 814,174 of which 559,935 were jobs in retail.

“While retailers have cut about 9,500 jobs over the last two months, this is an area that continues to expand. Right now, these employers are adding tens of thousands of seasonal workers to help with the holiday rush. It is true that these jobs are temporary and most will be eliminated in the new year. However, government data show that employment in the sector has nearly reached pre-recession levels and continues to grow,” said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.