Worst December for layoffs on record, survey says

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: Marketwatch

More bosses played Scrooge last month than during any December on record, as major companies kept up a steady pace of job reductions, according to outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas.

Big companies announced 166,348 layoffs in December, up 275% from a year earlier, Challenger said Wednesday in its monthly informal survey of job cuts. It's the largest number of announced layoffs in any December since Challenger began tracking them in 1993.

For all of 2008, companies announced a total of 1.2 million job reductions, the most since 2003 and 59% more than in 2007.

The financial sector accounted for about a fourth of the jobs eliminated in December. For all of 2008, the financial services industry announced plans to cut 260,100 jobs, nearly as many as the telecommunications industry cut in 2001 and 2002 as the dot-com bubble collapsed.

The auto industry cut 127,281 jobs in 2008, down from 158,766 eliminated in 2006.

The report comes two days before the Labor Department reports on December's nonfarm payrolls. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expect payrolls to fall 500,000 after the horrendous 533,000 loss in November. It would be the twelfth straight month of job losses, totaling 2.4 million. The unemployment rate is expected to rise to 7% from 6.7% in November and 5% in December 2007

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/worst-december-layoffs-record-challenger/story.aspx?guid={5205D26A-0957-4492-B8DC-423672CC7E91}&dist=google

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The pace is accelerating, and I challenge anyone to explain why it might slow down anytime soon.

[Faygo Kid]

1. Can't wait to see the CEO bonuses for the year at these companies.

The more people they cut, the more $$ the CEOs usually make.

And it's not going to slow down anytime soon. It is acclerating, and we could be calling it a depression by spring.

Thanks, W., and all your supporters.

[OhioChick]

2. Sad thing is....I don't see a slow down coming anytime soon.

K&R

[Meiko]

3. Obama

can't get sworn in fast enough for me. I really think he is going to be able to turn the economy around, he is a smart guy and has a lot of fresh ideas.

[antimatter98]

4. Wall Street loves layoffs. And CEO bonuses increase.

The system is against working Americans.

Congress pretends to care.

[dipsydoodle]

5. You could lose a millioin jobs this month

according CNBC TV News here in the UK on TV. http://www.cnbc.com/id/28536380