U.S. planned layoffs in Aug hit 10-year low

[FBaggins]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell 17 percent in August from the prior month and hit the lowest level in 10 years, a report on Wednesday showed. Employers announced 34,768 planned job cuts last month, down from 41,676 in July, outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. said.

It was the first month-on-month decline since April, when planned job losses had hit a seven-year low, and the lowest level since June 2000. Although unemployment remains high, at 9.5 percent in July, job security appears to be strong, the report said.

"To put this in perspective, job cuts never fell to these levels following the 2001 recession, not even when the economy was reaping the rewards of the housing boom," John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement. "You have to go all the way back to the expansion of the late 1990s and early 2000 to find a similar pace of downsizing," he said.




http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-planned-layoffs-in-Aug-hit-rb-2564594696.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

[msongs]

1. odd how there are no massive layoffs of the HIGHEST paid employees - CEO's nt

[denverbill]

2. Well, that's about as positive of news as I've seen lately. n/t

[bemildred]

3. Clever spin there. nt

[Kat45]

4. That's good news but it's only one baby step.

And it's only in one month, so far. What we really need are new jobs. I'll feel better when I hear that US firms are hiring--in the US.