Layoff announcements rose in April

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CHICAGO, May 3 (UPI) -- U.S. employers announced a reduction of 40,559 jobs in April, a moderate increase from the 37,880 layoffs announced in March, a private research group said.

Total job cuts announced for the month were up 7.1 percent from the previous month, outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday.

For the year to date, layoff announcements are 9.8 percent higher than they were in the same period in 2011.

From the first of the year through April, there have been 183,653 job cuts announced. For the same period a year earlier, 167,239 job cuts had been announced.

For April, the job cuts in education came to 9,027, a jump of 142 percent from the 3,733 education sector job cuts in March.

The job cuts reflect the budgeting difficulties of state governments faced with spending cuts.

Although job cuts in education surged in April for the year to date the 14,710 job cuts in the sector are down from the same period a year earlier.

In January through April of 2011, there were 21,505 job cuts in the education sector.

The consumer products sector has announced the most layoffs so far this year with 20,134 job cuts planned.