Challenger: September 2011 Layoffs Biggest In More Than 2 Years

The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms in September jumped to its highest in more than two years due to heavy cutbacks by the military and Bank of America, a private report on Wednesday showed.

Employers announced 115,730 planned job cuts last month, more than double August's total of 51,114, according to the report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

The figure was the highest since April 2009 when 132,590 layoffs were announced.

September's job cuts were also much higher than the same time a year ago, tripling from the 37,151 job cuts announced in September 2010. For 2011 so far, employers have announced 479,064 cuts, up 16.5 percent from the first nine months of 2010.

"It is important to keep in mind that 80,000 cuts, or nearly 70 percent of last month's total, came from just two organizations: Bank of America and the United States Army," John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement. "Neither of these cuts is directly related to recent softness in the economy."

Bank of America's (BAC.N) 30,000 planned cuts stemmed from continued fallout from the U.S. housing market collapse and restructuring efforts to remake the bank into a smaller, more efficient company, Challenger said.

The 50,000 military cuts were the result of drawing down forces in two wars and cost-cutting efforts in all areas of the federal government. September's cuts followed an announced 17,500 reduction in August, he added.

These military personnel might face tough times finding jobs with companies.

"Perhaps the biggest challenge is taking the often specialized skills and experience gained in the military and translating it to the private sector," Challenger said.

On the hiring front, employers announced plans to add 76,551 workers in September, down from 123,076 a year ago, the firm said.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Andy Kolk]

03:21 PM on 10/06/2011

Policies that lead to not getting a job:

Credit check by employers leads to no employment because credit is bad.
Drug tests that lead to no employment.
If you have been in jail, no employment.
If you do not have access to the internet, no employment.
If you do not know how to create a resume, no employment.
If you cannot aford a car and the insurance that goes with it, no employment.
If you don't have an address with a phone number, no employment.
If you don't have decent clothes, no employment.
If you are mentally ill, no employment.
If you have no references, no employment.
If you ran out of gas and money to go to an interview, no employment.
If you think your job should be advertised in the newspaper and no longer exists, no employment.
If you have been out of work for too long, no employment.
If you have not graduated from high school, little chance of being employed.
If you have been in the military, you may be suffering post tramatic stress disorder, therefore, you are unemployable.

Many more reasons for the "job creator" to not hire you. It is easier to go to China and become a communist and then get hired in China, easier then getting a job in the USA.

[MiddleMolly]

07:20 PM on 10/07/2011

If you have no problem with drugs, have an advanced education, are very computer literate, have a home, phone number, a decent set of clothes, a great resume, good references, a car with gas, but you are close to 60 and trying to re-enter the job market after a few years tending elderly parents (or a sick spouse), no employment.

Actually, if you are all of the above and were laid off for any reason but you are near 60, no employment.

[J S K]

02:28 PM on 10/06/2011

wow, i thought low taxes on those job creators would create some jobs, guess not

[MiddleMolly]

07:21 PM on 10/07/2011

Them thar taxes aren't low enough yet. When they get them down to zero, they'll start hiring... Watch! Yes, they will, I tell you! (sarcasm, for those who might not have figured that out.)

[authorized-user]

01:19 PM on 10/06/2011

Employers announced 115,730 planned job cuts last month, more than double August's total of 51,114.

HOPE THESE PEOPLE REMEMBER TO VOTE, they have time now.

WHERE ARE THE JOBS?????

[fortressfountain]

11:40 AM on 10/06/2011

The EPA is not the reason for high energy costs. Energy costs are controlled by the states-they choose to regulate or de-regulate.
In states where they have de-regulation-surprise-higer energy costs.
In states such as Washington-where all of the computer companies use a lot of energy-cheap electricity-regulated.
I live in PA-costs were at least 20% lower before deregulation-they even raised the cost just so people would switch energy companies.
The supplier stays the same.

[Kenz300]

10:14 AM on 10/06/2011

Maybe we should not have extended the Bush tax cuts for the top 2%.

Maybe we should not be fighting two wars without asking anyone to pay for them. We might have been a little more reluctant to go to war if people knew they had to pay for the cost instead of passing it on to future generations.

Maybe we should have a financial transaction tax so that HFT High Frequency Trading on Wall Street does not skim pennies from every transaction.

Maybe we need a national sales tax with a deduction on low and moderate incomes so that all the unreported incomes of the jobs creators gets taxed.

Maybe we need to let Medicare negotiate with drug companies for cheaper prices.

Maybe we need to end the current LEAGAL immigration program where a million new immigrants come to the US every year. This is more than any other nation on earth. If we had reduced LEGAL immigration when the unemployment rate went above 5% we would have 3 million less people looking for jobs now. It is time to reduce the H1B visa program and hire the people that are already here first.

[jtabs]

11:22 AM on 10/06/2011

You had me until point 6.

[gerald4]

09:28 AM on 10/06/2011

JOBS WILL NOT RETURN TO THE USA UNTIL THE USA CORRECTS OR COMPENSATES FOR THE FOLLOWING:

1. US labor costs many many times as much as Foreign Labor according to the DOL website:

ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/ForeignLabor/ichccpwsuppt01.txt

2. The cost of Extended Unemployment Benefits and National Healthcare Reform cost is added to US company payroll costs and economically preventing the location of new manufacturing jobs into the USA, and/or preventing the keeping of existing US jobs in the USA.

3. The increasing cost of compliance with existing and proposed new environmental laws is making the USA even less competitive in the World Market place.

4. The cost of electrical energy that is generated in the USA in compliance with US EPA regulations is at least ten times the cost for the same amount (kilowatt hours) of electrical energy in most Asian countries.

The EPA is the main cause of the higher electrical costs in the USA.

These costs are hindering the US businesses that are economically competing for obtaining manufacturing jobs for US citizens in the USA instead of businesses relocating or creating those jobs into foreign nations.

[authorized-user]

01:20 PM on 10/06/2011

JOBS WILL NOT RETURN TO THE USA UNTIL THE USA CORRECTS OR COMPENSATE­S FOR THE FOLLOWING:

***** Live like Chinese peasants *****

Where are the jobs?

[gerald4]

02:29 PM on 10/06/2011

The US jobs are relocated to China and other lower cost countries as ECONOMICAL­LY REQUIRED by the US FREE TRADE agreements created by our US congress.

Tell me what you suggest to create jobs in the USA.

If the US government spending destroys the US economy, then US citizens will not live as good as Chinese peasants

[MiddleMolly]

07:24 PM on 10/07/2011

Come on, Gerald. You really think we should all agree to live on a few bucks a day like people in the third world? Is that what you really want for this country?

And please list one regulation in "propsed environmental laws" that is keeping greedy employers from hiring.

[GoDems2012]

09:24 AM on 10/06/2011

Well BofA did tell Rick Perry they were going to "help him out".

[PragmaticStatistic]

08:55 AM on 10/06/2011

Job losses are the outcome when you build an economy driven by 10 years of war and fraud paid for on our national debt. Eventually it all comes crumbling down.

[xpt2wndj]

07:51 AM on 10/06/2011

A failed POTUS, with his failed policies. You would think that after 3 years, if any thing BO's ideas would be showing some success. They are. They are. Every thing is working as planned. More people on food stamps, more lay offs, more hoame foreclosures, yep working as planned, more people angry, more people wanting to blame someone or some thing. When Its all BO's doing.
Even Castro knows the truth, wake up Dims your BOZO is the worst POTUS ever.

[MiddleMolly]

07:26 PM on 10/07/2011

It's all BO's doing? Did you happen to have your head buried in the sand during the last 30 years, especially the years 2001 through 2008? Only someone who is really, really clueless could write something like your comment.

[mcartri]

02:09 AM on 10/06/2011

More lay-offs, more people on food stamps, more foreclosures, increased poverty and more citizens without health insurance. "It just keeps getting better!", shouted the GOP joyfully.

[K August]

06:36 AM on 10/06/2011

Let's hope the righties don't start telling our returning soldiers that they're "lazy" if they can't find jobs in this economy.
It's shameful to see them calling everyone who has lost their job "lazy".

[mcartri]

03:13 PM on 10/06/2011

No need to hope. The GOP religion of Meism doesn't care a hoot if a returning soldier can't get a job. The "support the troops" mantra is as fake as their "patriotism".

[MiddleMolly]

07:29 PM on 10/07/2011

Yep.. except that the GOP is so, so clueless. They actually let people hear them accuse the unemployed of being lazy and that they should "blame themselves". They actually let people hear them boo ga y soldiers. They actually let people hear some of them calling "let him d i@e" about a person without health insurance. They actually let people hear them offering raucous applause because hundreds of people have been put to d @a th in a Repub state.

Hopefully people aren't as cluelss as the Repubs think they are and have actually heard some of this stuff.

[demisfine]

09:12 PM on 10/05/2011

Right in time for a rally.

[Paski]

04:44 PM on 10/05/2011

What do you want? On one hand, you want cut backs in defense and other government spending. That means they will have no money to pay salaries and have to lay off employees. You cannot have the cake and eat it too.

[demisfine]

09:13 PM on 10/05/2011

But you can have an investment made into infrastructure HERE.
No defense contracts, but development in THIS NATION.

[K August]

06:38 AM on 10/06/2011

If only the GOP/TP would stop talking about obstructing the Jobs Act or cutting it down to nothing.

[J S K]

02:31 PM on 10/06/2011

so you are saying you support the redistribution of tax dollars by spending on defense then?

you really don't think the money could better be put to work if it just stayed in the tax payers pockets?

[itsnoteasybeingblue-n-tx]

04:41 PM on 10/05/2011

Apparently some of those 30,000 BofA jobs are going to be handled by temporary employees in TX. After all they have done to implode our economy. They want the victims who need a job so bad they will even work for them to have the following.

After their shenanigans that put millions out of work they ask the prospective temp employees.
"What have you been doing the last 2yrs"?
"Looking for work. What do you think?"
After throwing millions out of their homes they want excellent credit.
"How is your credit?" they ask.
"After 2yrs without a job, due to the economy you helped to destroy, how do
you think it is"?
After stealing billions from the tax payer they say:
"If you want to work here (remember it's a temporary job) you must undergo an
extensive background check."
I say: "If only we the taxpayer had been able to do a background check on your
criminal executives we might have caught you before you helped
destroy our country!"

Once the luck few jump thru all of those hoops...what can they look forward to?

A 90day assignment for the grand sum of 10-11 dollars an hour and no
guarantee of a permanent position.

And they are the lucky ones, at least they will have a job.
B@$T3RDS!!!!

[K August]

06:41 AM on 10/06/2011

And no insurance or other benefits......
that's how corporate america keeps their fiduciary duty to their stockholders....they MUST show a profit every quarter, year after year and the easiest way is to scr*w their labor force.

[derivoman]

04:39 PM on 10/05/2011

But wait, according to DNC chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, "anyone who looks at the economy can see we've come a long way." Perhaps she meant a long way towards it being even worse.

[dizmo4]

05:35 PM on 10/05/2011

read the article.

Majority of those cuts came from BofA which was expected and the US military which is decreasing its forces as the two wars wind down.

[blndgenie]

06:02 PM on 10/05/2011

same 'Lil Debbie who said of her party in July, 'WE OWN THIS ECONOMY". TOO FUNNY!

[dporterdvd]

04:17 PM on 10/05/2011

Who cares if the layoffs will devastate families. Who cares if laid off workers over age 50 have almost no chance of finding another job in this economy.

The important thing is coddle billionaires and make sure CEO's get millions of dollars in bonuses.

People who can't be proud of their job because they no longer have a job can instead be proud of the fact that America has more billionaires than Denmark, Norway and Germany and American workers work harder and longer than workers in those countries and for less money.

[blndgenie]

06:03 PM on 10/05/2011

I mentioned the 30,000 BofA layoffs and many more in the future here yesterday and a prog responded 'collateral damage'. AWESOME!

[dporterdvd]

06:39 PM on 10/05/2011

I guess you were home schooled in the back yard with the pit bulls and never went to church. AWESOME!

[K August]

06:45 AM on 10/06/2011

All those people are the 99% and should join the Occupy events near their homes.
Over 450 cities are having them or they are scheduled to have them soon.

Occupytogether.org or Occupytogether on FB.