Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. News Release (06/03/15)

After reaching a three year high in April, planned job cuts announced by U.S.-based firms declined sharply in May, falling by 33% to 41,034, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Some 61,582 planned job cuts were announced in April. That was the highest monthly total since 61,887 layoffs were recorded in May 2012. To date, employers have announced 242,830 cuts in 2015, 13% more than the 214,600 announced in the first five months of 2014.

Job cut announcements related to falling oil prices appear to be ebbing. In May, just over 1,000 planned layoffs were attributed to the drop in oil. In contrast, April saw 20,675 job cuts blamed on oil prices. “Unless there is another severe drop in the price of oil, we probably will not see another surge in oil-related job cuts this year,” says John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.