Companies Continue To Pare Their Ranks

Compiled ByJill Jusko Companies are far from finished when it comes to thinning out their ranks, shows new data collected by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The Chicago-based outplacement firm's monthly job-cut survey showed that in April American companies announced plans to cut 112,649 jobs, a 10% increase over the announced plans for the previous month. While the April figure is 32% below the number of cuts announced in the same month one year ago, job-cut announcements in 2002 are very close to the record-setting pace established in 2001. Through the first four months of 2002, 555,783 jobs cuts have been announced, down just 3% from the first four months of last year. The record number of job cuts announced in 2001 reached 1,956,876. By industry, telecommunications announced the most cuts in April. Its 38,176 represent 34% of the cuts announced in April. Telecommunications also leads in the number of job cuts announced in the first four months of 2002, with 120,698, followed by the automotive industry (75,051) and retail (59,723).