Finance sector fuels January layoffs

In January of 2008, 74,986 American workers were laid off, an increase of 69% from December’s total of 44,416, according to a report released today by outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas. The bump in layoffs was mainly due to the shedding of jobs in financial sector, which terminated 15,789 positions in January, more than one-fifth of all layoffs for the month. “If the economy dips into a full-blown recession, it will likely be caused by a drop in consumer spending and the effects of the high price of energy,” stated John Challenger, CEO of the research firm in a statement released along with the report. There were 19% more layoffs in January 2008 than there were in January 2007, when 62,975 people were laid off. Neither 2007 nor 2008 saw as many losses as 2001 - the height of the dot-com crash - when monthly layoffs averaged almost 140,000 prior to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. From September 2001 through January of 2002, monthly layoffs jumped to an average of 216,000.