Layoffs Low, but Hiring Still Slow

From the Wall Street Journal By Justin Lahart | Oct 26, 2010

Employers announced plans to cut 37,151 jobs last month, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That’s up from 34,768 a month earlier, but still seriously low. Excluding August, the last time there were so few layoff announcements was May 2006.

But despite the dearth of layoffs, the labor market is dismal. The disconnect highlights the main barrier to a jobs recovery: A lack of hiring. Until companies push harder to fill jobs (recent research suggests they haven’t) and more of the new companies that traditionally lay at the heart of U.S. job creation get started, the labor market will remain broken.