US layoffs fall to lowest level in nearly a year

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

layoffs in July than the year before, marking the first year-over-year decrease in more than a year and bolstering prospects that a resilient labor market will help the economy avoid a recession. U.S.-based employers announced 23,697 job cuts in July, a 42% drop from the number of layoffs announced in June and an 8% decrease from July 2022, according to a report released on Thursday by employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. It was the first year-over-year decrease since May 2022, and July also had the fewest announced layoffs since August of last year. The Fed's aggressive interest-rate hiking campaign that kicked off in March 2022 led many economists to forecast that it would eventually trigger a recession — and accompanying large-scale job losses — a conviction that picked up momentum as 2023 began. Indeed, the year began with a flurry of layoffs announced through the first quarter. So far this year there have been more than three times as many announced job cuts compared with last year: 481,906 job cuts announced in the first seven months of 2023 compared with 159,021 through the same period in 2022. But that trend appears to be nearing an end. On the whole, employers have continued to add jobs throughout the year and the labor market has consistently outperformed economists' expectations that the Fed's 525 basis points of interest rate hikes would drive the unemployment rate up.

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“Companies, weary of letting go of needed workers, are finding other ways to cut costs. Many have slowed hiring, but wages continue to rise, particularly for the lowest-wage earners, for the moment,” said Andy Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger,