Benefits July 2, 2002

Telecoms Tremors Drive Up June Layoffs

July 2, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) -The US telecommunications industry continues to generate huge layoffs - enough to drive up June's planned layoff total by about 10,000, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

According to Challenger’s latest monthly survey, employers announced 94,766 June layoffs, a 12% hike over May’s total. The source of almost a third of the cuts: telecom companies.

The 30,455 telecommunications job cuts, which more than doubled the sector¹s 14,687 cuts in May, led all other industries in the month. It was the ninth time in 12 months that this struggling sector was the top job cutter.

Telecommunications companies have announced 165,840 job cuts in 2002 — 85,809 more than the second-ranked automotive industry, which has announced 80,031 job cuts this year.

Things appeared a bit brighter measured by quarters. Second-quarter job cuts of 292,393 were lower by 34% than the first-quarter figure of 443,134 and down 21% from the second quarter of 2001 when 370,556 job cuts were announced.

Despite the second-quarter decline, job cuts for the year at 735,527 are only 5% lower than the six-month total in 2001 of 777,362.