Planned Job Cuts Continue Down Trend

Irvine, CA, Feb. 2, 2011 -- Planned job cuts announced by U.S. employers declined in January, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

Planned firings fell 46% to 38,519 last month from 71,482 in January 2010, the company said. It marked the fewest job cuts for any January since record-keeping began in 1993. The year-over-year decrease was the biggest since August.

“What made this January figure so unusual is that it was so low,” John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a press release.

“Even in the 1990s, when annual job cuts were relatively low, January still averaged more than 74,000 job cuts.”

Government and non-profit agencies led the January job cuts with 6,450 announced reductions, according to Challenger. Retail companies had the next-largest number of cuts, with 5,755.