Former World Bank President David Malpass claims there is an “opportunity” for the Federal Reserve to consider cutting interest rates “in the morning with Maria”.
of pace of work Layoffs by U.S. employers accelerated in February, a sign that the labor market is starting to deteriorate in the face of ongoing inflation and high interest rates.
That’s according to a new report released Thursday by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which found that companies plan to cut 84,638 jobs in February, up 3% from the previous month and 9% from the same period last year. It turned out that it was.
This marked the highest layoff total for February in data since 2009.
“As we head into early 2024, we are witnessing a steady wave of layoffs. Companies are aggressively cutting costs and embracing technological innovation, and staffing needs “We are significantly restructuring the company,” said Andy Challenger, Challenger’s senior vice president. Christmas.
The number of well-paying jobs is decreasing
Job seekers attend the Veterans Employment and Resource Fair on January 9 in Long Beach, California. (Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
technology companies The industry felt the brunt of the job losses in February, with 12,412 people laid off across the industry. A total of 28,218 jobs have been lost in the tech industry since the beginning of this year.
Financial institutions followed with 26,856 job cuts since the start of the year, an increase of 54% from the same period last year.
US economy adds 216,000 jobs in December, more than expected
Industrial manufacturing companies have also seen a surge in layoffs so far this year, eliminating 7,806 positions, an astonishing 1,754% increase from last year. Energy companies have also announced cuts that are 1059% higher than in the same period in 2023.
Another source of job cuts in February was the education sector, which cut 6,336 jobs last month, a sharp increase from the 607 job cuts announced in January and February 2023. increased to
The biggest reason for last month’s layoffs was restructuring. Companies blamed store closures and economic and market conditions for layoffs. So far this year, only 383 layoffs can be attributed to artificial intelligence. Rather, companies blamed the job cuts on updating and implementing new technology, which led to 15,225 layoffs.
Job seekers visit a booth during the Spring Job Fair at the Las Vegas Convention Center on April 15, 2022 in Las Vegas. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review Journal/Getty Images)
“Given the backlash that some companies have faced from directly blaming artificial intelligence on layoffs, companies are seeing this change as a ‘technological update’ rather than a complete replacement of human roles with AI. ”, Challenger said. “In fact, in addition to AI, companies are also deploying robotics and automation. It is notable that AI was directly cited in 4,247 layoffs in the last year alone. This suggests that the impact of
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The labor market has remained historically tight over the past year, contrary to economists’ predictions of an economic slowdown. Economists say the economy is starting to normalize after last year’s breakneck pace, but it is far from a breakthrough.
The data comes ahead of the release of the more closely watched February jobs report from the Labor Department on Friday morning, with employers expected to hire 200,000 more workers as the number of employees increases. It is expected that it will be shown that the company has employed 353,000 people in January.
The unemployment rate is expected to remain stable at 3.7%.
