John Challenger Cuts Quotations

Layoffs are still very high, and the economy seems to be showing little sign of pulling out of the doldrums, ... These lower cuts may just mean that we aren't seeing any further dips right now -- that we're just in this kind of steady, low-wattage kind of state.

I don't know what company would announce cuts and then not take them all, ... Not only would Wall Street be breathing down their neck, but it would leave workers under a cloud that more cuts must be coming. I don't think they go into these announcements very lightly.

Businesses are starting to ramp up spending on new equipment and technology and consumer spending looked relatively strong in January, despite predictions that they were tapped out. This may mean fewer job cuts in the months ahead as companies try to meet the steady demand for their products.

Job cuts are likely to continue in the telecommunications industry, which is still not able to see the light at the end of the tunnel,

Overall, job cuts are down from last year and significantly lower than the record numbers we saw in 2002 and 2001, but there are still some worrisome trends,

Merger/acquisition activity was the second leading cause of job cuts (in January), behind cost-cutting. It will continue to be among the top job-cut reasons this year as an improving economy and increased competition force industry consolidation.

While companies seemed to be hoarding workers post-merger or acquisition through February, it appears that this is not the case anymore. While we do not have our own merger job-cut data for March tabulated yet, we know a large number of merger-related cuts were announced.

We have already seen a couple of large deals announced this year, one of which expected as many as 10,000 job cuts to take place as redundant positions are eliminated, ... This could be a big year for such transactions.

We are seeing more job cuts from well-known, brand-name companies. The mom-and-pop category seemed to dominate the earlier waves of dot.com cuts.

We are no longer seeing the blockbuster cuts in the tens of thousands that cause big headlines, ... Instead, we are seeing cuts of 2,500 (to) 5,000. While most announcements of that size do not get a lot of media coverage, those are the ones that give us (big) figures such as those in March.

The decline in job cuts is certainly welcome news, but it is difficult to get too excited about a year in which more than 1.2 million people fell victim to downsizing, ... That is more than double the 553,044 job cuts averaged annually during the six-year period before the recession.

The good news for workers is that job cuts during the summer months typically decline from the beginning of the year. If that occurs this year, we could see job-cut figures fall to their lowest level in several years.

We typically see higher job cuts in January as companies set into motion business plans and employment needs for the new year.

With fewer job cuts last month and virtually no let-up of demand for skilled workers across all industries, one would expect far more wage pressure than has been seen,

Even though February job cuts showed a significant decline, there is no reason to think the job market is rebounding, ... The fact that cuts remained above 100,000 is a strong indicator that employers are still focused on contraction.

The very heavy downsizing reported in November is more confirmation that the effects of the Sept. 11 attack on the economy have been substantial. In the eight years we have tracked job cuts data, the downsizing for the last three months has been at levels never before seen.

Tech cuts have been trending downward year after year as firms continue to regain their strength after the devastating dot-com collapse in 2000 and 2001.

The biggest factor pushing tech job cuts to a five-quarter high was a surge in corporate combinations in the telecom sector, which resulted in over 3,000 job cuts in February.

The fallout from these mergers is often measured in jobs as the combined entity cuts overlapping positions and sheds workers in an effort to maintain profit margins.

If job cuts in the auto industry continue and we start to see consistently high job-cut numbers from the top three job cutters in July, it should set off some relatively loud alarm bells about the state of the job market and economy.

Changes at the top are typically followed by changes further down the ladder. However, the high number of job cuts this year could also be leading to CEO changes.

Changes at the top are typically followed by changes further down the ladder, ... However, the high number of job cuts this year could also be leading to CEO changes.