“NEW YORK (Reuters) – The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms rose in the first month of the year, but that was more than offset by an increase in plans to hire, a report showed on Thursday.
Employers announced 40,430 job cuts this month, up 24.2 percent from 32,556 in December, according to the report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
But January’s job cuts were down almost the same amount from the same time a year ago, declining 24.4 percent from 53,486 in January 2011. It was the third lowest number of January lay-offs recorded by Challenger going back to 1993.
“The relatively low job-cut totals we have seen for the last couple of months indicate that employers do not foresee a prolonged decline in economic activity,” John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.
The financial and retail sectors lost the most workers. Financial firms cut 8,578 workers, while retail companies dropped 6,676 jobs….”
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