Layoffs Up 15.9% in November

Chicago, IL, December 5, 2007--Announced layoffs jumped 15.9% last month as the economy grappled with a worsening housing slump and credit crisis, according to Challenger Gray & Christmas.

However, housing-related layoffs fell, with the auto and energy industries leading the jump in planned job cuts to 73,140 in November from 63,114 in October.

The financial sector was also hard hit.

"We probably have not seen the last of financial job cuts tied to the housing slump and the subsequent collapse in credit markets," said Chief Executive Officer John Challenger.

Economists have had a hard time explaining how employment in the housing sector has failed to drop as dramatically as home sales themselves. Some note that undocumented immigrants are often employed in this area, and their absence from the statistics may understate the damage.

Payroll data for November will be release Friday and analysts expect the economy generated about 75,000 jobs last month, down from 166,000 in October.

At the current pace, planned layoffs were on track to post a fifth straight year of decline. They were down 4.7% last month compared with November 2006.