Announced job cuts by major U.S. corporations increased 22% in November to 99,279, according to a monthly tally released Dec. 7 by consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Planned layoffs have increased three months in a row. More than 10% of the job cuts this year have come from the automotive sector, which has announced 105,886 cuts this year, including 16,870 in November.
So far in 2005, corporations have announced 964,232 job cuts, up 3.6% from the year-to-date total a year ago. Layoffs are likely to surpass one million for the fifth straight year. In 2004, 1.04 million job reductions were announced.
"There clearly are areas of the economy that are struggling to find a foothold but, for the most part, the economy is very strong," Challenger said. In November, U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 215,000, the 30th consecutive month of job growth, the Labor Department reported last week.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005
