Planned Job Cuts Spike in July

Chicago, IL, Aug. 3, 2011 -- U.S. employers announced the largest number of job cuts in 16 months in July, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

Planned firings rose 59 percent from July 2010 to 66,414, Challenger said.

“July marks the third consecutive increase we have seen in monthly job-cut announcements, which certainly seems to provide additional evidence that the recovery has stalled,” John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a press release.

“It has been a couple of years since we have seen this level of private-sector job cuts coming in a single month.”