Layoff Pace Fell Sharply Last Month But Total Layoffs Remained 9% Higher Than A Year Ago

Layoff announcements in February fell markedly from the month before to end a two-month rise as corporate downsizing became a major issue in the presidential race, a monthly report says.

Despite the decline, the 33,830 layoffs announced last month remained 9 percent higher than a year ago, the Chicago outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported Wednesday.

Word of the decline in layoff announcements comes as the issue of corporate downsizing gains greater attention. Layoffs were pushed to center stage recently when Republican presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan made it a campaign issue.

“It was not until February, following two huge cutback months, that politicians acknowledged for the first time the serious impact of layoffs,” John A. Challenger, the firm’s executive vice president, said in a statement. “No major cutbacks were announced in February.”

Challenger said the layoff announcement figure for February was the smallest monthly total since last September’s 33,173.

But when taken together with January, the two-month layoff figure of 131,209 far exceeded the two-month total a year ago, 69,907. In January, the number of layoff announcements was 97,379. December announcements totaled 55,237 and November’s came to 41,293. In another report Wednesday, a survey showed that corporate mergers, which often lead to layoffs, probably won’t slow down.

Corporate executives believe the pace of mergers and acquisitions will continue to rise, particularly as U.S. companies make forays overseas, according to a survey by Deloitte & Touche.

Two-thirds of the respondents to the survey said they expect their companies to buy other U.S. businesses in the next 12 months and 39 percent said they expect overseas acquisitions.

Western Europe is the most attractive market, with 36 percent planning to buy companies there.