from Challenger Gray and Christmas

U.S.-based employers announced 29,831 job cuts in October, down 3 percent from the same month last year, when 30,740 job cuts were announced. Employers have announced 25 percent fewer job cuts than they did in the same period last year.

So far this year, 351,309 job cuts have been announced, 24.6 percent fewer than the 466,352 cuts announced through October 2016. This is the lowest ten-month total since 1997, when 328,816 cuts were announced through October.

Said John Challenger, Chief Executive Officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.:

Companies are currently holding on to their workforces, but this may be the calm before the storm.

Another downturn could be on the horizon for early to mid-2018 and with it, the large-scale layoff announcements that typically follow. Adding to this is the possibility that global factors, including Brexit, could usher in a recession.

October’s job cut announcements were led by the Health Care sector, which announced 6,373 cuts last month, an increase of 219 percent from September, when 1,997 positions were cut. Through October, the Health Care sector cut 31,134 jobs, a 98.7 percent increase from the 15,661 cuts announced in the same period last year.

The Services sector announced the second highest number of cuts in October, with 3,938, bringing the year-to-date total for the industry to 28,916. This year’s total for Services companies is 201 percent higher than the 9,584 cuts recorded through October 2016.

Pharmaceutical companies announced 3,076 cuts in October, bringing the year-to-date total to 12,821, a 55.6 percent increase from the same period last year, when 8,237 cuts were announced.

Retail has consistently remained the leader in job cuts, with a total of 72,600 cuts announced through October, a 36.7 percent increase from the 53,119 cuts announced through the same month last year.

Announced Store Closures

January 2017-October 2017