Challenger Report

A monthly job cut report, produced by the recruiting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, that tallies the number of layoffs throughout the United States. The report has some effect on the stock market because job cuts can be expected to positively impact corporate profits when employee costs decrease. The data gives some sense of future layoff activity and tracks layoffs by industry and region, as well as providing reasons for the layoffs. However, the data has some limits: Layoffs are listed by the company headquarters, but the job cuts may be spread across the United States. The layoff data is gleaned from press reports and isn’t a comprehensive compilation. The workforce reduction may occur over a long period of time; if conditions change, more or fewer jobs could be cut or saved. The data also doesn’t count workforce reductions that occur through retirement or voluntary resignations. The report is published one week after the previous month end.