Layoff Announcements Fall Second Straight Month

Chicago, IL, April 1, 2009--Corporate layoff announcements slowed last month compared with February, but they were up 181% compared with March 2008, according to an unscientific monthly tally released Wednesday by outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas.

Major U.S. companies announced 150,411 job reductions in March, nearly triple the year-earlier figure of 53,579. Still, it was the second straight decline in layoff announcements, the first back-to-back declines in two years. It was the lowest monthly figure since October.

In January, layoff announcements as tracked by Challenger Gray had surged to a seven-year high of 241,749.

Through the first quarter of the year,layoff announcements have totaled 578,510, nearly triple the 200,656 announced in the first three months of 2008 and the most in any quarter since the fourth quarter of 2001.

For all of 2008, 1.22 million job reductions were announced.