When all you read is gloom, turn here for a much different perspective.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Corporate Layoffs Subsiding Substantially

The good news for jobs this week is that a major study now shows that corporations have either finished their layoffs for now or have significantly curbed those actions.

"The decline in job cuts last month offers some hope that January was the peak and we will now see layoffs begin to fall or at least stabilize," said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger Gray & Christmas the authors of the study.

According to the report, major U.S. companies surveyed in the study announced only 186,350 job reductions in February, down significantly from January when the cuts totaled 241,749.

On Thursday all eyes will be on initial claims for unemployment. Following the Challenger, Gray & Christmas report it will likely also show those initial claims falling.

If so, we may just be reaching an important tipping point. You might just be observing one more catalyst to fuel another significant rally in the equities markets.

5 comments:

  1. You were dead on GNE. Intial claims "surprisingly" fell by 31,000.
    "Tuesday Ramblings"

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  2. Great news! And of course the media fear mongers have to throw in the word "surprisingly"--gee hate to disappoint them all.

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  3. Any words of encouragement for those of us who faithfully read your blog looking for good ecnomic news (and acknowledge all the good posts) but are nevertheless discouraged by the stock market collapse?

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  4. Anonymous,

    Thanks for being a faithful reader. Readership continues to grow and recently has accelerated, thanks in part to many of the efforts of all you passing on the posts via email or via the share button and your social networks like facebook and twitter.

    I am sorry that so many are discouraged by the current stock market indexes... but that sentiment is not surprising or unique. I can seriously say that this feels almost exactly like it felt back in early 1975. In fact, then I was really scared. I thought that we would no longer have oil. I remember gasoline lines where you would wait for an hour, get to the front of the gas line, and the service station pump/tank would be empty. There were bans on "topping off" your tank... you had to buy l0 gals minimum... speed limits were reduced, and everyone that I knew was wearing sweaters and coats inside... the unemployment rate got to 9.0% (from 4.8% in late 1973)... I acknowledge that you and many others are discouraged and that is real. I'll continue to post all the good that I see and trust that in some small way I can contribute to what ultimately will be a significant, sustained upside bounce.

    Thanks again for reading faithfully.
    GNE

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  5. Any silver lining in the February job reports? Do you think the unemployment rate will stabilize given the drop in new filings this week?

    ReplyDelete

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