A report from
employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Revealed on Thursday that U.S. businesses announced 55,597 job cuts in October, down 23.7 per cent
from the 72,821 layoffs claimed in September. The October reading was 50.9 per cent above the figure for the corresponding month one year
prior (36,836).
According to
the report, the Aerospace/Defense sector announced the largest number of job
cuts this month (18,465, or 33.2 per cent of all), primarily on Boeing’s plan to reduce 17,000 jobs. It was followed by the Retail (7,696, or 13.8 per
cent of all), Consumer Products (4,571, or 8.2 per cent of all), and Technology
(3,614, or 6.5 per cent of all) sectors.
Year-to-date, U.S. employers
announced plans to cut 664,839 jobs, up 3.7 per cent from the 641,350 cuts
announced during the corresponding period a year ago. This was the highest YTD
total since 2,162,928 job cuts were announced in 2020.
Commenting on
the latest report, Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray
& Christmas Inc., noted that job openings had fallen and hiring was pretty
flat. “Companies appear to be in a holding pattern as we await election results
and the potential regulatory and market environment that follows.” He added.