Employers announced plans to cut 36,602 jobs in April, according to a report issued by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. April’s announced cuts were 15% less than March’s. The month’s figure was 43% lower than April 2016.
The retail sector continues to lead the way in job cuts, with 50,133 so far this year. This is 36% higher than the same period last year. However, the energy sector held strong, announcing 459 cuts in April, which brings the total to 8,725 in 2017. This is an 87% decrease from this point last year when the energy sector had shed 67,660 jobs.
“Although restructuring in the retail sector continues to shed jobs, we aren’t seeing the wide scale layoffs in other sectors, like energy or tech,” said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Telecommunications companies have reported 10,269 job cuts through April this year, 70% more than the 6,023 cuts through this point last year.
“The FCC is expected to lift a ban on merger talks in the telecom industry which will likely result in companies paring down to make themselves more attractive in these deals. We could see even more cuts in the coming months from this sector,” said Challenger.
Read the Challenger Gray & Christmas release.
