Job layoffs surge 35% to highest level to start a year in a decade

[brooklynite]

Source: CNBC

Layoffs hit their highest level for a first quarter in 10 years as 2019's job market got off to a shaky start, according to a report Thursday from outplacement firm Challenger, Gary & Christmas.

Total announced cuts hit 190,410, a 10.3 percent increase from the fourth quarter and 35.6 percent jump from the same period a year ago. The level was worst period overall since the third quarter of 2015 and the highest level for a first-quarter since 2009 as the economy was still mired in the financial crisis.

"Companies appear to be streamlining and updating their processes, and workforce reductions are increasingly becoming a part of these decisions," Andrew Challenger, vice president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement. "Consumer behavior and advances in technology are driving many of these cuts."

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/04/job-layoffs-surge-35percent-to-highest-level-to-start-a-year-in-a-decade.html

[Historic NY]

1. Trump will be out there demanding that they be rehired immediately.

[JDC]

2. Ahh, trickle down working as usual.

Tax cuts for corporations and the rich have once again set us in a downward spiral.

[Yavin4]

3. Again, I go back to the govt. shutdown and thin refund checks

Those two things took a lot of purchasing power out of the economy, forcing people to cut back on their spending. Which then means that the businesses that they support also cut back on their spending.

[Honeycombe8]

4. THIS will get the Republicans more nervous than anything. "It's the economy, stupid."

And it is. For each voter, it comes down to....is the economy good for ME? Is the economy going to continue to be good for ME? If so, they will probably stay with the incumbent. If not, they'll go shopping for someone to make the economy good for them.

"It's the economy, stupid" is an old political axiom. And it's pretty true.

The technical signs with the stock market are such that there is a likelihood that a recession is coming soon, or somewhat soon. Rich people are okay with this; they don't have recessions. For them, it brings opportunities to buy things at depressed prices.

[The Mouth]

9. Cogent analysis

I couldn't have said it better.

[Metro135]

5. So much winning!

[BamaRefugee]

6. Why don't they all move to West Virginia, where tRump has made coal mining a ROARING SUCCESS again?

[CurtEastPoint]

7. A good friend had been at a law firm for over 35 years. Laid off. Job outsourced.

[duforsure]

8. Yet he'll keep lying to the people that he's so great for the economy,

Which is BS, and the opposite again of what HE's doing to it , but will blame others again for his actions. The coal miners know, and the farmers should know, and auto workers should know now they were conned all along by trump. Bait and switch , say one thing then do another, of course after he gets your vote.

[Politicub]

10. We knew this was coming

The layoffs are starting. It was bound to happen.

[DavidDvorkin]

11. I'm not surprised, but I am puzzled

First-time claims for unemployment have been dropping. There should be a strong correlation between the two.

[LakeArenal]

12. The taxes cuts for millionaires has worked great.

For millionaires.

[0rganism]

13. Trump economy in full swing now

this is what i expected to happen much earlier -- credit to the US for taking far longer to topple than a major casino.