November Job Cuts Mark 2016's Lowest Level

Chicago, IL, December 2, 2016—The pace of downsizing fell to the lowest level of the year in November, as U.S.-based employers announced plans to shed 26,936 workers from payrolls during the month, according to a report by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

November job cuts were 12% lower than the 30,740 cuts announced in October. They were down 13% from last November, when job cuts totaled 30,953.

Last month’s total was the lowest of the year, falling below the previous low of 30,157, recorded in May. It was slightly higher than last December’s 23,622 job cuts, which was the lowest monthly total since June, 2000, when employers announced just 17,241 planned layoffs.

To date, employers have announced 493,288 job cuts in 2016. That is 5.5% fewer than the 521,847 job cuts recorded by this point in 2015.