Downsizing in April down 12 percent from last year
The slow pace of downsizing continued in April, as employers announced plans to cut 36,490 jobs from their payrolls during the month, 12 percent fewer than the 41,528 job cuts announced the previous month, according to the latest report on planned layoffs released today by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. The April job-cut total was down 5 percent from the same month a year ago, when 38,326 planned layoffs were announced. It was the lowest monthly total of the year and the third lowest over the last 16 months. Year-to-date, employers announced 167,239 job cuts, 24 percent fewer than the 219,509 layoffs by the same point last year.