The Challenger layoff report for June shows a 23.6 percent decline to 48,786 announcements from 63,816 in May. The number is up 19.8 percent compared to 40,709 in June 2023. Overall, the number of announced intentions to cut payrolls is moderate and consistent with modest expansion and a healthy labor market. For the first six months of 2024, planned job cuts total 434,645, somewhat less than 458,209 in the January-June 2023 period.

In June, announcements were broad-based across industries. The largest number of announced intentions is 5,311 in consumer products, followed by 4,979 in warehousing, 4,647 in technology, and 4,613 in construction. Among reasons cited for cutting jobs, the largest category is 20,272 in closing and 10,961 in restructuring. It appears that companies are closing under-performing locations and/or streamlining operations.

Plans for hiring in June rose 350.6 percent to 19,087 after a meager 4,236 in May, and are up 40.0 percent from 13,629 in June 2023. Given layoffs in the tech sector, it is somewhat of a surprise to see nearly half of June's hiring intentions are 9,069 in technology.

This monthly report counts and categorizes announcements of corporate layoffs based on mass layoff data from state departments of labor. The job-cut report must be analyzed with caution. It doesn't distinguish between layoffs scheduled for the short-term or the long term, or whether job cuts are handled through attrition or actual layoffs. Also, the job-cut report does not include jobs eliminated in small batches over a longer time period. Unlike most economic data, this series is not adjusted for seasonal variation.

The job-cut report is basically a rehash of the weekly jobless claims report but provides additional insight into where layoffs are occurring. There is industry and geographic (states) detail that is not available with weekly jobless claims.