Job cuts top 2010 total

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CHICAGO, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Announced job layoffs for the year have already surpassed the total for U.S. job cuts announced in 2010, a private research firm said.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas said November's layoff announcements was steady compared to October with 42,474 cuts announced after a total of 42,759 in October.

In the month, however, U.S. employers surpassed the total for 2010 with layoff announcements coming to 564,297 January through November, compared to 529,873 for all of 2010.

For the eighth month of the year, government layoffs led all employment sectors for layoffs. For the year, the government has announced 180,881 job cuts, 30 percent more than the same period of 2010, the report said.

In November, 13,500 out of 18,508 the announced government job cuts were layoffs of civilians working for the United States Air Force.

"Even if Congress finds a way to delay the automatic military spending cuts triggered by the failure of the deficit reduction super committee, there is still immense pressure to cut costs. The drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq are likely to result in further personnel reductions," said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in a statement.