The number of planned job cuts announced by American employers increased by 4,297 or 11.6 percent to 41,432 in June. Despite the increase, the overall pace of downsizing through the first half of 2011 is at the lowest level since 2000, according to the latest report on downsizing activity released today by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

The June increase is the second in as many months. Announced layoffs in May were up 2 percent to 37,135, after falling to a four-month low of 36,490 in April. 

The two consecutive months of increased job cut announcements did little to affect the overall slow pace of downsizing.  For the quarter that ended June 30, a total of 115,057 job cuts were announced, down 12 percent from 130,749 in the first quarter and 1.2 percent lower than the second quarter in 2010 (116,494). 

Employers have now announced 245,806 planned job cuts this year, 17.4 percent lower than the 297,677 cuts announced in the first half of 2010. The six-month total is the lowest since 2000, when 223,421 job cuts were tracked between January and June.

 “The employment picture remains a bit cloudy,” said John Challenger, the firm’s CEO. “Continued slowness in the pace of job cuts is certainly promising.  However, hiring is coming in spurts and is not quite robust enough to make a significant dent in unemployment.”

 The weakest link in the economy right now is the government sector, which continues to see the heaviest downsizing, Challenger said. Government agencies have announced nearly 78,000 job cuts so far this year, including more than 10,000 in June.

 “If there is any silver lining, it is that the six-month total is down 22 percent from the 99,676 government job cuts announced by this point a year ago,” he said.

Firms in the financial services sector increased downsizing by 18.5 percent to 11,734 jobs in June, after announcing 9,901 cuts in the first six months of 2010.  Job cuts in the industrial goods sector are up 28 percent from a year ago.

“These are significant increases, but the job-cut totals are still low enough to prevent alarm bells from sounding,” Challenger said. “However, the fact that job cuts are rising in these particular industries is notable, since aerospace, financial services and industrial goods are all bellwether industries when it comes to the overall health of the economy.”