Survey: June Layoffs Remain Low at 39,000

A monthly survey finds layoffs slowing to a crawl and suggests a turnaround may not be far down the road.

According to the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, job cuts in June were virtually unchanged from May. CEO John Challenger says the cuts are very low -- just 39,000.

There were fewer than 300,000 job cuts for the first half of the year -- just a third as many as last year and the lowest since the year 2000.

Challenger says the June job cuts report shows no sign of a double-dip recession with companies cutting more jobs again. He says, "If anything, it looks like they're poised for more hiring growth as we move into the second half of the year."