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Job cuts up 2% in May
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June 7, 1999: 10:43 a.m. ET
Challenger report: reductions for first 5 months of '99 double the '98 figure
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The number of announced job reductions rose 2% in May compared with the prior month, with the lastest number nearly double that of May 1998, the out-placement firm Challenger, Grey & Christmas said Monday.
The number of announced job cuts rose to 55,231 from 54,399 in April, the Chicago-based firm said. May marked the 14th consecutive month in which job cuts were higher than the same month in the previous year, and the ninth straight month in which the number exceeded 50,000.
The Challenger report, based on tracking job-cut announcements, said cuts in the first five months this year totaled 320,151, 49 percent ahead of the same period last year.
Financial industry companies have led the way with 36,656 announced job cuts so far this year, Challenger said. The retail sector follows with 34,120 announced cuts, with health care third at 33,665.
The figures are just the latest piece of job information in a complicated employment picture. The Labor Department on Friday said unemployment in May matched a 29-year low. At the same time, only 11,000 new jobs were added in the month, a three-year low.
The report comes three weeks before the Federal Open Market Committee meets to discuss interest rate policy. After the Fed expressed an inclination to raise short-term rates last month, many analysts have been parsing economic data for evidence of rising inflation.
Challenger said Monday's report means "companies are playing a consistent role in keeping employment costs in check." But the Labor Department said Friday that May average hourly earnings, a key inflation gauge, rose a higher-than-expected 5 cents an hour, or 0.4 percent, to $13.19. 
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