Report: Layoff Plans Up 12 Percent

Reuters / ABC ^

[RCW2001]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Layoff announcements by U.S. firms rose 12 percent in June, led by further job losses in the beleaguered telecommunications industry, said a report on Tuesday that suggested the labor market remains weak.

Job cuts announced in June totaled 94,766, up from 84,978 in May, the employment outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas said on Tuesday. But there were 24 percent fewer job cut announcements compared with June 2001, and job cuts during the second quarter fell 34 percent compared with the first quarter.

Planned job cuts among telecom companies more than doubled in June to 30,455, more than any other industry during the month. And the employment picture for telecoms for the second half of the year is not showing any signs of improvement, said the Challenger report.

Included in the report are the 17,000 cuts announced by WorldCom (WCOME.O) last week. The Clinton, Miss., company announced the layoffs as it faces charges of improperly booking nearly $4 billion in costs which resulted in the appearance of profits over five quarters.

"We will probably continue to see significant job cutting, especially if there is a wave of merger activity as some industry watchers anticipate," said John Challenger, chief executive officer of the Chicago-based firm.

The study also said waning investor confidence as a result of a slew of accounting scandals is hitting multiple industries and will likely lead to more layoffs, starting with the financial sector.

[RightWhale]

The entire telecomm industry is in pain. Loral, maker of telecomm satellites, said today they didn't expect an upturn in late '03 afterall, and their stock dropped over 1/4 of its price today as a result.

[RCW2001]

Would you please pull this thread. This article already has a thread running.

I screwed up my search by using layoffs instead of layoff.

Thanks...

[Digger]

Just watch. The government will show the unemployment figure at under 400,000 as they been doing & the idiot sheeple investors will keep their money in the market all the while the corporates & institutional investors are taking theirs out.

[Johnny Crab]

AND the "less than trustworthy" CEO/accountants/lawyers and any other fleecers will harvest the invested loot....OPM...other people's money)...like politicos...