Challenger Gray & Christmas January 2015 job cuts report, 53000 job cuts, 40 percent due to falling oil prices, Initial claims jump 11K

“There’s no other way to say this. The official unemployment rate, which cruelly overlooks the suffering of the long-term and often permanently unemployed as well as the depressingly underemployed, amounts to a Big Lie.”…Gallup CEO Jim Clifton 

“11.4%: What the U.S. unemployment rate would be if labor force participation were back to January 2008 levels.” …James Pethokoukis, American Enterprise Institute, June 2013

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″

Remember, only 59.2 percent of the US population is working and only 56.5 percent in NC. More on NC and McCrory’s state of the state speech soon.

From Challenger Gray & Christmas.

“2015 January Job Cut Report: 40% of 53,041 Cuts Due to Falling Oil Prices”

“Job cut announcements surged to their highest level in nearly two years, as falling oil prices prompted cost-cutting efforts in energy and related industries. In all, U.S.-based employers announced plans to shed 53,041 jobs from their payrolls to start 2015; with 40 percent of those directly related to oil prices.

The January total was up 63 percent from the 32,640 planned layoffs announced in December, according to the report on monthly job cuts released Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

Last month’s figure was 18 percent higher than the same month a year ago, when employers announced job cuts totaling 45,107. Last month, in fact, saw the highest monthly job-cut tally since February 2013 (55,356) and the highest January total since 2012, when employers announced 53,486 job cuts to begin the new year.

Of the 53,041 job cuts announced in January, 21,322 were directly attributed to the recent and sharp decline in oil prices. Most of these cuts occurred in the energy industry, where employers announced a total of 20,193 layoffs (19,722 of which were directly attributed to oil prices). The January total is 42 percent higher than the 14,262 job cuts announced by the energy industry in all of 2014.

Falling oil prices also contributed to job cuts in the industrial goods manufacturing sector, where companies supplying products and materials to oil drillers were forced to shutter operations. These firms announced 4,859 job cuts in January, of which 1,600 (or 33 percent) were due to oil prices.

“We may see oil-related job cuts extend well beyond those industries directly involved with exploration and extraction. The economies throughout the northern United States that have been thriving as a result of the oil boom could experience a steep decline in employment across all sectors, including retail, construction, food service and entertainment,” said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.”

Read more:

http://www.challengergray.com/press/press-releases/2015-january-job-cut-report-40-53041-cuts-due-falling-oil-prices

From the US Labor Dept. February 5, 2015.

“In the week ending January 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 278,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 2,000 from 265,000 to
267,000. The 4-week moving average was 292,750, a decrease of 6,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 750 from 298,500 to 299,250.”

Read more:

http://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf