Econoday Economic Report: Challenger Job-Cut Report May 31, 2012

2012 Economic Calendar

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Challenger Job-Cut Report

Released On 5/31/2012 7:30:00 AM For May, 2012

	Prior	Actual
Announced Layoffs - Level	40,559	61,887

Highlights
Last week's massive 27,000 layoff announcement from Hewlett-Packard made for a swollen 61,887 headline in Challenger's layoff count. This compares with 40,559 in April and 37,135 in May last year. But the Hewlett-Packard layoffs, which will extend out to October, are not likely to be a factor for tomorrow's monthly employment report. Outside of computers, layoff announcements in May were heaviest in the transportation and financial sectors.

Definition
This monthly report counts and categorizes announcements of corporate layoffs based on mass layoff data from state departments of labor. The job-cut report must be analyzed with caution. It doesn't distinguish between layoffs scheduled for the short-term or the long term, or whether job cuts are handled through attrition or actual layoffs. Also, the job-cut report does not include jobs eliminated in small batches over a longer time period. Unlike most economic data, this series is not adjusted for seasonal variation. Why Investors Care

The Challenger Job-Cut Report could serve as a leading indicator for new jobless claims. However, not all layoff announcements result in near term job losses. For instance, companies often announce layoffs that will result in job losses but not immediately. Companies would simply not replace workers who quit voluntarily.
Data Source: Haver Analytics

2012 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/5 2/2 3/8 4/5 5/3 5/31 7/5 8/2 9/6 10/4 11/1 12/6

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