Fewer job cuts in Oct. - BUT layoffs remained above 100K

[Roland99]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6390311
U.S. planned job cuts eased in October but remained above the 100,000 level for the second month in row, a report said Tuesday.

Employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said employers announced 101,840 layoffs in October, down from 107,863 in September. The October figure marked the first time since January/February of 2003 that more than 100,000 cuts were announced back to back.

[Tempest]

1. Another article

http://tinyurl.com/3slqs

Excerpts:

If announced job cuts come in around 86,920 in the next two months, then 2004 will be the fourth straight year in which job cuts would exceed 1 million.

Before 2001, the highest annual job-cut total was 677,795. That happened in 1998.

"The job market appears to be stuck in the mud,” Challenger chief executive officer John Challenger said. “Every time it looks as if things are going to rebound for the nation's workers, a series of reports deflates the optimism.

"Two consecutive months of 100,000-plus job cuts does not convey a sense of confidence about future business conditions.”

Since Mr. Bush took office in 2001, the U.S. economy has shed about 900,000 jobs, making him the first U.S. president to preside over a net decline in employment since Herbert Hoover, the Depression-era president who led the country from 1928 to 1932.