Corporate layoffs have all but vanished (8)

T

I first showed this chart exactly one year ago, when I said "this should probably go in the positive column." Since then it has been a leading indicator of improvement in the economy. Announced corporate layoffs, as tabulated by the folks at Challenger, Gray & Christmas have only been lower once (mid-2006) in the past 10 years. The process of shedding workers has effectively ended, and now it's just a waiting game to see when employers begin new hiring. We're almost there. If net new jobs don't show up in the February payroll numbers, to be announced this Friday, it will most likely be due to snowstorms, not the underlying status of the economy.