Fewer job cuts made in December
Total year-end job loss higher than year ago
Florida employers announced fewer planned job cuts, 356, in December than the 1,738 cuts made in the same month a year ago, according to a report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
However, the state’s year-end total was higher than a year ago: 15,356 announced job cuts compared with 13,288 in December 2016. The 2017 tally is attributed to the effects of September’s Hurricane Irma, which drove down payrolls in October, Challenger said.
Challenger’s layoff count reflects job cuts announced by employers in private industry, not government. Florida’s official layoff numbers for December and 2017 are scheduled for release on Jan. 19.
The good news for South Florida is that none of the announced job cuts by employers in December was in the region. There were 100 at a bank in Fort Pierce and 249 at a nonprofit organization in Tampa.
U.S.-based employers announced 32,423 job cuts in the last month of the year, bringing the year-end total to 418,770. That is the lowest annual total since 1990, when 316,047 cuts were recorded, according to Challenger.
December job cuts were 20.5 percent lower than a year ago.
The largest number of layoffs, 76,084, was in the evolving retail industry. That compares with 59,324 job cuts in the industry a year ago.
“The retail pivot that caused thousands of store closures and job cuts was not seen in any other industry this year,” said John Challenger, CEO of Chicagobased Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Meanwhile, announced hiring plans are the highest on record, according to Challenger’s report. Employers announced plans to hire more than 1.1 million new employees, which is 27 percent more than the 868,702 announced last year.
Also on Thursday, payroll firm ADP announced that 250,000 jobs were added to U.S. payrolls in December. The regional report, which includes Florida, is scheduled for Jan. 10.
“While we may see more job cuts in the first quarter of 2018, some companies have announced wage increases and bonuses for employees due to the passing of the tax bill,” Challenger said.