U.S. Employers Planned Job Cuts Surge 60%

U.S. employers announced plans to cut 66,414 positions from their payrolls during July, surging 60% from June, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. (WSJ)

The new figures are the highest level since March 20l0 and reflect numerous layoff plans by major employers.


Challenger Chief Executive John Challenger: "July marks the third consecutive increase we have seen in monthly job-cut announcements, which certainly seems to provide additional evidence that the recovery has stalled,"
It was also the first time in seven months that the government didn't represent the biggest portion of job cuts.

There were layoff announcements from companies such as Merck & Co. (MRK), Borders Group Inc. (BGPIQ), Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) and Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX), accounting for about 57% of the July total.

Employers have announced 8% fewer job cuts this year, compared with 339,353 planned layoffs in the first seven months of 2010.