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Job cuts triple last month
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January 4, 2001: 12:44 p.m. ET
U.S. employers slash 133,713 jobs in the final month of 2000; retail hit hard
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The number of job cuts tripled in December as U.S. employers slashed 133,713 jobs due to the economic slowdown, according to international outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas Inc.
"Consumers watched the stock market fall, heating-fuel prices rise, and to top it all off, employers launched a year-end job cut spree," said John Challenger, chief executive officer of the firm that tracks unemployment figures.
The company stated that December's job cuts were 203 percent higher from 44,152 job cuts in November and up nearly 200 percent from the 44,682 cuts in December 1999.
The monthly Challenger Employment Report highlighted that the retail sector, which was especially hard hit, accounted for a whopping 30 percent of December's job cuts. And for 2000, the retailers also took the lead with 94,354 job cuts, 47 percent higher than 1999.
December marked the fourth time that a monthly job cut report surpassed the 100,000 figure since Challenger began keeping records in 1993.
The Northbrook, Ill.-based group said job cuts drastically increased in the second half of 2000, and were 75 percent higher than the first half.
The survey said that the closing of Montgomery Ward helped make retailers the largest job cutting sector in the final month of 2000. 
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