Job cuts announced by U.S.-based companies plummeted 61 percent in August after rising to a four-year high the previous month, according to a monthly report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Employers announced 41,186 layoffs last month. While the tally ticked down on a month-to-month basis, the figure represented a 2.9 percent increase in job reductions from the same period last year. August marked the seventh month this year during which companies cut more jobs than they did a year ago.
At the current pace, the United States could see 650,000 layoffs this year, the highest since 2009, CEO John Challenger said Thursday.
Still, he called the August total “a good number.”
“There’s low pressure for layoffs in most sectors. Unemployment’s low. Company’s are more looking for workers,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
