Orange County Register

Employers across the country announced 76,456 layoffs in August, down from 97,373 in July, reports Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement firm that tracks employment.

However, while layoff announcements have been trending down,  the number of jobs scheduled to be cut so far this year topped 1 million in August — 1,070,504 year to date — 60% higher than at this point last year.  There were 1,223,993 layoffs announced for all of 2008.

Challenger's survey is different from the monthly unemployment report and other studies because it is based on announced layoffs rather than actual job cuts.  Lots of employers never announce their layoffs and don't report them on WARN notices to the state, so the Challenger report is most useful for looking at trends.

The trend in job cuts, according to Challenger's numbers, is down.  Announced layoffs have declined every month this year except in July. (Click on image below to enlarge.)

Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas

August also marked the third consecutive month that layoff announcements were lower than the same month last year.  Cuts this August were down 14% from the 88,736 announced in August 2008.

One new trend is the sectors with the largest cuts.  Government and non-profits led in August with 38,586 announced layoffs, which Challenger attributed to struggles resulting from falling tax revenues.

The biggest announced government layoff is by the U.S. Postal Service, which said it plans to cut 30,000 of its 656,000 workers,mostly through retirement buyouts, which will include a $15,000 incentive.

“Until now, government job cuts have been dominated by local and state agencies suffering from depleted budgets.  The federal government has been one of the few areas of the economy that is creating jobs," said John A. Challenger, chief executive of the company. "Fortunately, the job cuts by the Post Office are not indicative of a coming surge in federal government downsizing.  Rather, the cuts are tied to falling mail volume as more Americans rely on e-mail."

He noted that the last four months of the year are typically the heaviest for downsizing, as companies try to meet budget and position themselves for the next year.

"If monthly job-cut levels remain near 100,000 or lower, it will be a strong indication that the economy and job market are improving," Challenger said. “That does not necessarily mean that there will be a sudden surge in job creation as 2010 gets underway, but we will at least be heading in the right direction."

Read the full Challenger report HERE.

ADP today estimated that employers laid off  298,000 people in August, the fewest monthly job cuts in nearly a year, reports Register Small Business columnist Jan Norman. 

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