Planned Job Cuts Fall By More Than Half

Chicago, IL, Aug. 4, 2010--Job cuts announced by U.S. employers fell by more than 50% in July from a year ago, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

Planned firings dropped 57% to 41,676 from 97,373 in July 2009, the firm said.

While planned job-cut announcements have posted their third straight month-to-month gain, they’re hovering close to the seven-year low reached in April.

“The increases are so slight and the monthly totals so low when compared to recent years, that the trend in no way suggests a reversal of the significant slowdown in job-cut activity witnessed over the past year,” John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a press release.

Compared with June, job-cut announcements rose 6%.

Government and non-profit agencies led job cuts with 7,193 announced reductions.

The report also showed that employers announced plans to hire 8,151 workers in July, down from 11,732 in June.