US job cuts soared in October - report

Job cuts announced by US companies rose to 176,010 in October, a rate of more than 7,600 job cuts per business day, according…

Job cuts announced by US companies rose to 176,010 in October, a rate of more than 7,600 job cuts per business day, according to a jobs survey published today.

The October figure is the second-highest of the year, behind only January's 212,704, according to the monthly survey released by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The firm tracks daily job-cut announcements.

The 176,010 planned job cuts announced in October is 151 per cent higher than September's count of 70,057 planned cuts, the lowest monthly total since November 2000.

Although the pace of job cutting has declined from a year ago, when the terrorist attacks on the United States hit all industries, certain areas continue to struggle. The technology sector accounted for 34 per cent of October job cuts, the firm said.