NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. businesses in May announced the fewest job cuts in 12 months, an employment consulting firm said Tuesday.

Job-cut announcements fell 25 percent to 84,978 in May from 112,649 in April, according to data from Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas.

It was the lowest figure since 80,140 in May 2001 and the first time since then that the number of cuts has fallen below 100,000. But the firm also said May usually is a low month for job cuts.

"We should not get euphoric over the May drop in job-cut announcements," CEO John Challenger said, pointing out that the three largest job-cut months in 2001 came after May.

As usual, the long-suffering telecommunications sector had the most job cuts in May, 14,687, or 17 percent of the total.

"Job cuts are likely to continue in the telecommunications industry, which is still not able to see the light at the end of the tunnel," Challenger said.

A slowdown in business spending last year that led to more than a million job cuts has been especially dramatic in the telecom industry. While other manufacturers are slowly beginning to recover, telecom spending still is dead in the water.

Related links       Challenger Gray & Christmas CNN/Money economic calendar

Unemployment is a lagging economic indicator and often keeps rising even after the economy begins to expand. Unemployment rose for 15 months following the end of the 1990-91 recession, for example.

On Friday, the Labor Department is expected to report that the unemployment rate rose to 6.1 percent in May from 6.0 percent in April, according to Briefing.com.