U.S. job cut announcements surge 45% m-o-m in February

The latest report released by Challenger, Gray, and Christmas Inc. revealed that job cuts announced by the U.S.-based employers surged 45 percent m-o-m to 76,835 in February from 52,988 in the previous month, and were up by 117 percent y-o-y. That was the highest reading since January of 2015, primarily due to the U.S. Army’s cutting over 50,000 jobs and tanking oil prices, causing thousands of cuts in the Energy sector.

According to the report, retail leads all sectors in job cut announcements with 41,201 this year, 92 percent higher than the 21,484 retail cuts announced through February 2018. It was the highest January-February total since 2009. Meanwhile, industrial goods, which includes heavy and industrial manufacturers, announced 31,948 job cuts through February, while companies in health care announced 7,766. Transportation companies have announced 7,193 cuts so far this year. The Automotive sector has announced 7,049 cuts this year, 239 percent higher than the 2,078 cuts announced through this point in 2018.

Most of the cuts this year were due to restructuring, as companies cited this reason for 42,882 layoff announcements. At the same time, bankruptcy has claimed 38,863 jobs so far this year. Technological updates were directly blamed for 1,022 cuts. Companies relocating operations overseas claimed 683 jobs, while tariffs led to 300 cuts.