Survey Reveals Job and Cost Cuts

Planned job cuts were down 16 percent nationwide in May, according to a recent report by outplacement consultancy Challenge Gray & Christmas Inc.

The report marked the fourth consecutive decline in monthly job-cut announcements, though the 111,182 cuts in May represented a 7.4 percent increase from a year ago, when cuts totaled 103,522. So far in 2009, employers have announced 822,282 job cuts, a 109 percent jump from the 394,193 announced at this point last year.

While cuts remain far above last year’s pace, May marked the fourth consecutive decline in monthly announcements. Job-cut totals have dropped an average of 17.5 percent per month since January.

Another possible bit of good news came in a separate Challenger release, which indicated the number of employers making permanent job cuts fell from 56 percent in January to 43 percent in the new survey. At the same time, 52.4 percent of human resource executives polled said their companies had instituted salary cuts or freezes among other cost-cutting measures.