Year-Over-Year Announced Job Cuts by U.S. Based Companies Decline 57% in February 2021

According to the latest released report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CG&C), Inc, a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm, planned job cuts announced by U.S. based companies fell -57% to 34,531 in February from 79,552 in January. It was the lowest monthly total since December 2019, when 32,843 job cuts were announced. Last month’s total is -39% lower than the 56,660 cuts announced in the same month last year. Through February, employers have announced 114,083 job cuts, -8% lower than the 124,395 announced through the first two months of 2020. In comments prepared for the release of the report, Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of CG&C said, “The churn has come to a halt. If healthy job creation follows, this could mean a full recovery is on the horizon, especially as companies see an end to the pandemic in sight. If we do not see jobs begin to return, we could be entering a stagnation cycle, potentially keeping the currently unemployed out of work longer. The good news is we are seeing a high number of hiring plans, particularly in Retail, Entertainment, and Health Care, which were hit hard due to the pandemic.”