Challenger report: More job cuts ahead

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- As the economic recovery continues to lose momentum, more job losses are on the horizon for thousands of Americans, according to a report released Wednesday.

The number of planned job cuts rose 11.6% in June to 41,432 from May's 37,135, according to outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Government workers will take the biggest hit, the report said, accounting for 10,176 of the announced reductions.

While the overall pace of job cuts has slowed since the recession, hiring has been spotty. Employers have now announced a total of 245,806 planned job cuts this year -- down 17.4% from 297,677 cuts announced in the first six months of 2010.

But year over year, job cuts have increased 5.3% from June 2010.

"The employment picture remains a bit cloudy. Continued slowness in the pace of job cuts is certainly promising. However, hiring is coming in spurts and is not quite robust enough to make a significant dent in unemployment," John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in a statement.

The Challenger report along with the ADP report due out Thursday, typically set the tone for the government's highly anticipated monthly jobs report due Friday. Economists are expecting 120,000 jobs were added to payrolls in the month. Typically, the economy needs to add about 150,000 just to keep pace with population growth.