Florida’s employers reported job cuts totaling 970 in March, up from 888 a year ago the same month, according to new data released Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Nationwide, job cuts totaling 49,255 in March were reported, a decline of 11 percent from 55,356 cuts announced in February. Despite the decline, quarterly job cuts reached their highest level since 2011, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. March job cuts were 30 percent higher than a year ago, when employers announced plans to shed 37,880 workers from their payrolls.
Employers have now announced 145,041 job cuts through the first three months of 2013. That’s 5.6 percent higher than the previous quarter’s 137,361 job cuts and 1.4 percent higher than the 143,094 job cuts announced in the first quarter of 2012.
Retailers led March downsizing with 16,445 reported job cuts, up from 2,279 in February and ranks second only to the financial sector.
“While consumer spending is up in 2013, many retailers have been fighting for their lives since the end of the recession,” said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “We could see job cuts in the months ahead as many traditional retailers struggle to find their footing in a more segmented and internet-driven retail environment.
Best Buy, JC Penney, Sears, Kmart and Blockbuster have each been forced to shed workers in recent months, or as in the case of Blockbuster, shut down entirely,” Challenger said.
Challenger added that, sequestration while it has not yet led to a significant surge in government job cuts, the self-imposed cost-cutting measures which took effect March 1, are already taking a toll on the aerospace and defense industry.
