It seems American employers are resting the ax.

The number of planned job cuts announced by employers in April fell 43 percent from the prior month, according to a report by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

The number of planned cuts – 38,326 – was the lowest since July 2006 and 71 percent lower than the planned cuts announced during the same month one year ago (132,580).

The figure also shows an encouraging trend for the year, as the 219,509 announced job cuts announced so far in 2010 are 69 percent below the 711,100 announced in the first four months last year. The current pace of announced cuts could result in an annual total below 700,000 for the first time since the beginning of the new millennium.

“We have not seen job cuts this low since before the 2001 recession. It is certainly a promising trend that suggests most employers are increasingly confident about conditions going forward and slowing the pace of job cutting,” said John A. Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in a release.

Challenger cautioned, however that the positive data don’t necessarily mean hiring is about to ramp up.

“Even when business conditions improve to the point where increased hiring becomes necessary, employers have a large enough labor pool to be extremely selective,” he said. The more selective they are, the longer it takes to fill open positions.”

The number of cuts announced in the government and nonprofit sector, however, continues to rise. Employers in this sector announced another 14,973 cuts in April, which brings the total for the year to 76,773. That total is 182 percent higher than the second-worst sector, pharmaceuticals, where 27,214 jobs have been cut.