U.S employers cut 124,852 positions in June, a 56% increase over May’s 80,140 cuts.
The June cuts bring the six-month total to more than 770,000, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., an international outplacement firm that tracks job-cut announcements daily.
The June increase marks the sixth time in seven months that job cuts exceeded 100,000.
Last month’s reductions increased dramatically, 624%, over June 2000, when job cuts totaled just 17,241, a three-year record low.
Job cuts in the first half of 2001 total 777,362, nearly three and one-half times more than the 223,421 announced between January and June 2000. The 2001 six-month total is in 27% percent higher than the year-end figure for 2000 (613,960) and 15% higher than the 677,795 job cuts announced in 1998, which was the biggest job-cut year of the last decade.
Job cut announcements fell slightly in the second quarter, declining 9% from 406,806 in the first quarter to 370,556 in the quarter ending June 30. However, the second quarter was 354% higher than the same quarter a year ago when job cuts totaled 81,568.
The telecommunications industry, which has led all sectors in job cuts since April, added another 27,446 in June, bringing its six-month total to 130,442. That is 49% more than the second ranked automotive industry, which has announced 87,613 job cuts this year.
The other industries making up the top five are computer, 74,723; industrial goods, 59,496; and electronics, 59,181.
The good news for displaced workers as well as for the economy is that the jobs that are being affected the most by downsizing are still in demand. This is why the unemployment rate has not increased at nearly the same rate as job cuts.
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