CHICAGO, June 4 (UPI) -- Announced job cuts "soared" in the United States in May, Challenger, Gray and Christmas, a Chicago-based outplacement and employment research firm said.
"Planned job cuts soared to a 29-month high of 103,522," the monthly report said Wednesday.
The report, which tracks announced layoffs, said the figure topped 100,000 for the first time since December 2006.
The "spring surge" in announced layoffs is 17 percent above 2007 and includes a total of 337,773 cuts announced in the first five months of the year, the report said.
Automobile industry jobs led the declines in May with 30,011 announced layoffs.
"Struggles on Wall Street continued in May, as well" with 16,206 announced cuts in May in the financial sector, the report said.
On the year, however, financial job cuts have outpaced all other sectors, with 66,031 layoffs announced, 34 percent more than the automobile industry, Challenger reported.
