Employers announced plans to cut 35,038 jobs in November, according to a report issued by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. November’s announced cuts were 17% higher than October’s and 30% higher than last November’s. So far this year, 386,347 job cuts have been announced, 22% lower than the announced cuts through November 2016.
The retail sector continues to lead the way in job cuts, with 74,665 so far this year. This is 28.8% higher than the same period last year. However, November’s pace slowed as retailers shed 2,065 jobs. The energy sector continued to hold strong, announcing 1,001 cuts in November, which brings the total to 15,844 in 2017. This is an 84.9% decrease from this point last year when the energy sector had shed 105,041 jobs.
“While job-cut announcements have remained low all year, major M&A activity, such as the CVS/Aetna deal and the possibility of Amazon buying generic pharmaceutical manufacturers, could lead to a spate of large-scale job-cut announcements to open 2018, especially at Pharmaceutical, Retail, and Health Care companies,” said John Challenger, Chief Executive Officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.”
Telecommunications companies have reported 13,391 job cuts through November this year, 29.2% less than the 18,921 cuts through this point last year.
The services industry shed 3,920 jobs last month, totaling 32,836 through November this year. This is a 242.6% increase from November 2016.
Read the Challenger, Gray & Christmas release.
