Record Job Cuts Planned

October was another awful month for jobs. Two key employment reports showed the largest number of planned job cuts in nearly five years, with private sector jobs falling by the largest amount in nearly seven years. Job cut announcements by U.S. employers soared to 112,884 in October, up 19% from September's 95,094 cuts, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. That was the highest number of pink slips handed out since January 2004. Layoffs last month were up 79% from October 2007, when 63,114 job cuts were announced. Separately, payroll manager ADP said Wednesday that the private sector lost a seasonally adjusted 157,000 jobs last month - more than six times September's decrease and the largest drop since December 2001.