READ MORE) Above, a for sale sign in San Diego lists expensive upgrades, in an attempt to attract prospective buyers. / " title="FEWER CONTRACTS for existing homes were signed in May than in any month in the past 5 years, the National Association Realtors said this week. (READ MORE) Above, a for sale sign in San Diego lists expensive upgrades, in an attempt to attract prospective buyers. /"/>CHICAGO – Corporate layoff announcements nationwide fell to 55,726 last month, 17 percent fewer than in June 2006 and 22 percent fewer than in May 2007, according to a report released today by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., Bloomberg News said. June generally has fewer such announcements than other months, the report noted.
For the first half of the year, layoff announcements declined 10 percent compared with the first six months of 2006. The automotive industry led the decline with 37,246 job-cut announcements, about 46 percent of the year-ago 69,334. Cuts at government and nonprofit organizations fell 49 percent to 24,780. (Some announcements never result in the elimination of jobs, and some jobs may be eliminated through attrition rather than layoffs. None of these figures are seasonally adjusted.)
Those declines were partially offset by a rise in layoffs in the financial services industries, which last month announced plans to slash 9,800 jobs or nearly 18 percent of the June total. “The financial sector is clearly affected by the significant housing slowdown and subsequent collapse in the subprime lending market,” Challenger CEO John A. Challenger said in a statement.
About 69 percent of companies are having difficulty finding skilled workers, the company found in a survey of about 100 human resource executives. About a quarter told Challenger they plan to increase their hiring pace in the second half of the year, half said they would hold steady and 4.3 percent said they would reduce hiring.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., the producer of a monthly job-cuts report based on corporate layoff announcements nationwide, is a Chicago-based outplacement consulting firm. To learn more, visit www.challengergray.com.
