December layoffs down sharply, but 2015 still took a toll
BUSINESS RECORD STAFF Jan 7, 2016 | 8:21 pm
1 min read time
239 wordsAll Latest News, Economic DevelopmentA strong economy, coupled with what appears to be a growing reluctance to announce layoffs during the holidays, contributed to December experiencing the lowest number of monthly job cuts in more than 15 years, according to a report released today by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
U.S.-based employers announced planned workforce reductions totaling 23,622 in December. That was 24 percent lower than the 30,593 job cuts announced in November and 28 percent below last year’s 32,640 December job cuts. According to the Challenger report, Iowa had just 18 jobs cut in December as part of 5,346 announced layoffs in the state in 2015.
December was not only the lowest job-cut month of 2015, it was the lowest job-cut month since June 2000, when employers announced 17,241 planned layoffs. Last month also represents the lowest December job-cut total on record, since Challenger began its monthly tracking in 1993.
“It used to be that companies would not hesitate to announce job cuts around the holidays. In fact, the heaviest job-cut period of the year was often in the closing months. However, that appears to have changed in the wake of the Great Recession,” said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
The December decline was significant enough to prevent 2015 job cuts from reaching a six-year high. In all, employers announced 598,510 job cuts during the year, 24 percent more than the 483,171 planned layoffs in 2014.
Trending News
