The number of job cuts announced by U.S. employers fell 42 percent in a holiday-shortened November after hitting a 12-month high in October, a report said Tuesday.
Planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell to 99,452 jobs in November from 171,874 in October, job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. said in their monthly job cut report. Job cuts announced so far this year amount to 1,143,406, 17 percent less than the same period a year ago.
November cuts were led by the telecommunications sector, which announced 18,183 cuts last month, the report said.
“Job-cut announcements have been on a roller coaster ride this year. One month job cuts increase; the next, they fall. The lack of any discernible trend in corporate downsizing is indicative of the uncertainty associated with the currency economy,” said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
The Challenger report comes ahead of Friday’s November U.S. employment report which according to a poll of economists by Reuters expects to see the unemployment rate hold steady at 6.0 percent with an increase of 135,000 new non-farm sector jobs.