February job cuts highest since last fall

Computerworld - Planned job cuts announced by U.S. businesses rose for the second consecutive month in February, according to Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
Challenger said the number of cuts announced last month surged to 138,177, a 5% rise from the 132,222 cuts announced in January and the highest figure since 157,508 cuts were posted in November. The February job cuts were 8% higher than the 128,115 job cuts recorded in the same month a year ago, according to the Challenger report.
Nonprofit companies and the government posted the largest number of job cuts for the month, 41,559, while the computer industry reported 10,954 planned job cuts, said Challenger. The telecommunications industry posted 6,169 cuts during the month, while e-commerce companies recorded 147 job cuts.
After slowing throughout the spring and summer of last year, the pace of job cuts seems to be rising again, Challenger said. From last March through August, job cuts averaged 98,957 per month. Since Sept. 1, however, the monthly average has surged to 127,815, 29% higher than the previous six months.
Employers have announced 3,450,159 job cuts since March 2001, when the latest recession officially began, Challenger said. The company said the National Bureau of Economic Research, which designates the beginning and end of each recession, hasn't yet said that the downturn has ended.
"It looked as if job cuts were beginning to come back down to earth in the spring of 2002, after several months of heavy post-terrorist attacks downsizing," said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "However, it now appears that economic uncertainties and war talk have put the brakes on business spending plans, and companies are once again in a serious cost-cutting mode."
He said it's probably no coincidence that job cuts jumped 151% last October, when war messages from Washington really began in earnest. Challenger said that since then, job cuts have averaged more than 139,000 per month.
"It is doubtful that a turnaround in hiring can be expected before fall, if then," he said.

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