Employers announced plans to cut 45,346 jobs in July, according to a report issued by Challenger Gray & Christmas. July’s announced cuts were 19 percent higher than June’s total. To date, employers have announced 359,100 layoffs, down 8.7 percent from a year ago.
“While job cuts were up last month, compared to June, the total was still lower than the July average recorded since the end of the recession,” said John A. Challenger, CEO of Challenger Gray & Christmas. “We did see a resurgence in energy-sector job cuts. This was somewhat unexpected in light of recent projections of increased oil price and possible labor shortages in the industry.”
Energy-sector cuts increased dramatically in July, rising to 17,725 (up from 1,979 in June), the largest figure since April. Year-to-date, the energy sector has announced 94,936 cuts, up 37 percent from 2015.
“Even as some oil-industry firms continued to reduce their headcounts in July, a report appearing in an industry publication OilPrice.com noted that the number of oil rigs rebounded in May and predicted that firms will have a difficult time ramping up operations if and when oil and gas prices go up,” said Challenger.
Read the Challenger Gray & Christmas release.