ADP & Challenger Jobs Reports Offer Mixed News
Talk about mixed messages: Investors got conflicting news on the job front on Wednesday morning.
One report showed continued expansion in the
private sector, in a report that it sometimes considered a lead-up to the monthly Labor Department employment report.
The other set the stage for a possible downturn, however, by indicating a spike in planned layoffs.
Private Sector Jobs Rise
Private-sector jobs rose by 91,000 in September, according to a report sponsored by payroll processing firm ADP. The increase came largely in service-sector jobs and from small and medium-size companies, according to the report; small businesses grew for the 22nd straight month.
That came on the heels of reports that optimistic retailers are planning to boost hiring for the holidays -- something that should give the job market a small boost in the coming months.
Big Job Cuts -- from 2 Sources
A gloomier tone was set by the monthly job cuts report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Employers announced plans to cut 115,730 workers from their payrolls in September -- the highest number since April 2009, when 132,590 job cuts were announced.
The September numbers represented a 126% jump from the 51,114 cuts announced in August, and 212% higher than a year earlier.
Still, Challenger cautioned against taking too dark a view of the cuts. "It is important to keep in mind that 80,000 cuts, or nearly 70% of last month's total, came from just two organizations: Bank of America and the United States Army," said the firm's CEO, John Challenger, in a statement. "The Bank of America cuts are the result of continued fallout from the housing market collapse -- [and] the military cuts are the result of drawing down forces in two wars and cost-cutting efforts in all areas of the federal government."
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