U.S.-based employers announced plans to cut 60,587 jobs from their payrolls in March, down 21% from the 76,835 cuts announced in February. Despite the decline, last month’s cuts in the Automotive and Energy sectors added to the highest quarterly total of the last 14 quarters, according to a report released Thursday from global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
First quarter cuts totaled 190,410, 10.3% higher than the 172,601 cuts announced in the final quarter of 2018 and 35.6% higher than the 140,379 announced in the same quarter last year. It is the highest quarterly total since Q3 2015, when 205,759 cuts were announced. It is also the highest first quarter total since 2009, when 562,510 cuts were recorded.
“Companies appear to be streamlining and updating their processes, and workforce reductions are increasingly becoming a part of these decisions. Consumer behavior and advances in technology are driving many of these cuts,” said Andrew Challenger, Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
“Another major driver of the uptick in job cuts is economic uncertainty and fears of an upcoming downturn. Companies are reacting to market conditions as much as consumer demand,” he added.
March job cuts were led by the Automotive sector, which announced 8,838 cuts. So far this year, automotive manufacturers and suppliers have cut 15,887 jobs. Energy companies followed with 8,149 planned cuts last month, for a total of 10,548 this year.
