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Again, 55,000 jobs added per month is still a loss. Until
100,000 jobs are added each month consecutively, we still have a jobless
recovery. Also see Economic Policy Institute’s Job Watch @ http://www.jobwatch.org/ and GDP Picture @ http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_econindicators_gdppict Job Cuts Surged 125 Percent in Oct.- Challenger Planned layoffs at
U.S. firms shot up to 171,874 jobs in
October, from 76,506 in September, job placement firm Challenger,
Gray & Christmas said on Tuesday. Layoffs were at their highest since Oct.
2002, when 176,010 job cuts were announced. Some economists say
the data may not provide a complete picture of the labor market, but investors
seeking clues about Friday's employment report sent bond prices higher after
the Challenger report. "With factors
like technology, outsourcing, and consolidation working against job creation,
any job market rebound we see in the near future will be relatively
small," said John Challenger, chief executive at Challenger, Gray &
Christmas, in a statement. In a signal that the
job market may face another difficult month in November, Tyco International
Ltd. on Tuesday said it would eliminate 7,200 jobs as it dismantles its
far-flung global empire. "We're not out of
the woods yet with regard to the labor market," said Lehman Brother
economist Drew Matus. The job market won't
really turn the corner until the economy shows a few quarters of strong growth,
Matus said. But some economists believe that the layoff numbers do not
necessarily indicate a sour labor market. Higher layoffs at larger
companies could be offset by more robust hiring at small and medium-sized firms,
said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo & Co. The Challenger report
clashes with other signals that the labor market has shown signs of
stabilizing. The September
employment report showed that employers increased the number of workers on
their payrolls by 57,000, the first increase since January. In addition, last week the number of
initial jobless claims fell to 386,000, the fourth straight week that claims
were under 400,000, which economists consider as a critical level for the labor
market. A report on the
manufacturing sector on Monday said the pace of factory job cuts was slowing. Analysts
are eagerly awaiting Friday's report payrolls and unemployment. According to a
Reuters poll, economists on average forecasted payrolls increased by 55,000,
and unemployment held steady at 6.1 percent. (Additional reporting
by Kevin Plumberg) © Reuters 2003. All Rights Reserved. |
