Outplacement Firm Offers No Optimism For Employment Upturn

ByMichael A. Verespej There's not much optimism at the international outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray and Christmas Inc. that the economic downturn in the U.S. which has translated into massive layoffs will end anytime soon. "There is no evidence reported by any industry that anything that could be called a significant sustainable rebound is on the horizon for this year or even into early next year," says Challenger, Gray and Christmas CEO John Challenger. Earlier this month, Challenger, Gray and Christmas reported that the number of announced layoffs by major U.S. corporations in the first eight months of this year totaled more than 1.12 million workers. That's more job cuts than were made in any single year since Challenger, Gray first began compiling such numbers in 1994.