from Challenger Gray and Christmas
Changes in consumer finance led to a 44 percent surge in job cut announcements in September, as U.S.-based employers planned to cut 55,285 from their payrolls.
Last month’s total is 43.7 percent higher than the 38,472 cuts announced in August and 70.9 percent higher than the 32,346 cuts announced in the same month last year. September job cut plans are the second highest monthly total behind March, when 60,357 cuts were recorded.
Nearly half (47.9 percent) of September job cuts come from Wells Fargo’s announcement that it will cut between 5 and 10 percent of its workforce over the next three years. With roughly 265,000 workers, the company plans to cut up to 26,500 (Challenger counted the higher figure in its tracking).
Said John Challenger, Chief Executive Officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.:
As the job market remains near full employment and companies struggle to find workers, large-scale job cut announcements like the one from Wells Fargo will actually provide the workers necessary for companies to gain momentum and sustain growth.
With the exception of Wells Fargo, low job cut announcements indicate employers are holding on to their staff in a period of expansion.
Despite low announcements, job cuts are up year over year. Employers have announced 366,058 cuts so far this year, 13.9 percent more than the 321,478 cuts announced in the first nine months of 2017. Employers announced plans to cut 120,879 jobs in the third quarter, 15.3 percent higher than the 104,800 announced in the second quarter and 27.9 percent higher than the 94,479 announced in the same quarter last year.
While the Financial sector announced the most cuts in September with 27,343, most of which are due to increased demand for online banking options, Retailers similarly continue to announce cuts as consumers pivot to online shopping, with Retail leading all sectors in job cuts. So far this year, Retail companies have announced 85,385 cuts, 12,319 of which occurred in the third quarter.
Industrial Goods manufacturers announced the third highest number of job cuts in September with 2,235, bringing the year-to-date total to 20,699, 32.9 percent higher than the 15,565 cuts announced through September last year.
Meanwhile, companies in Retail, Transportation, and Warehousing announced large-scale seasonal hiring plans last month. So far this season, Challenger has tracked plans to hire 589,118 seasonal workers this year. This is in addition to the 6,879 hiring plans employers announced in September.
CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS, INC.
JOB-CUT ANNOUNCEMENT REPORT
TOP FIVE INDUSTRIES
Year To Date
2018
2017
Retail
85,385
71,057
Financial
38,935
11,593
Health Care/Products
32,997
24,761
Consumer Products
28,489
11,415
Services
26,455
24,977
MONTH BY MONTH TOTALS
2018
2017
January
44,653
45,934
February
35,369
36,957
March
60,357
43,310
April
36,081
36,602
May
31,517
33,092
June
37,202
31,105
July
27,122
28,307
August
38,472
33,825
September
55,285
32,346
October
29,831
November
35,038
December
32,423
TOTAL
366,058
418,770
Some reductions are identified by employers as workers who will take early retirement offers or other special considerations to leave the company.
LAYOFF LOCATION
Year To Date
California
80,842
New Jersey
40,188
Texas
24,330
Ohio
21,435
New York
19,829
Listings are identified by the location of the layoff or corporate headquarters as stated in announcement.
