By: Meredith Masse

US-based employers had planned to cut 38,845 jobs from their payrolls in July 2019, up 43.2% from 27,122 in the same month in 2018. The industries that were hit the hardest during this change in economic climate were:

• Transportation. The industry led all sectors in July, with 5,532 announced cuts.
• The energy sector had announced 3,737 job cuts in July. The oil and gas sector alone actually slashed more than 5,000 according to reports on Rigzone. 
• Industrial goods manufacturing, which announced 4,403 cuts. The overall manufacturing sector saw over 1,000 cuts announced due to the impact of tariffs. 
• Pharmaceutical companies announced 3,062 job slashes. 
• Overall so far this year, US employers have announced plans to cut 369,832 jobs, a 35.8% increase from the 272,301 cuts reported in the first seven months of 2018. It is the highest seven-month total since 2015, when 393,368 cuts were announced.

(Source: http://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/challenger-job-cuts)

This data combined with the ups and downs of the Dow send strong signals that a potential economic recession could be on the horizon. Are industry and business leaders ready to handle more layoffs through the end of this year in a way that won’t permanently damage the employment brands and community connections they’ve worked diligently to create?

This is the topic of ICC’s upcoming webinar When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Compassionate: Conducting Human-Centered Layoffs this Thursday, Aug. 29, 12pm ET|10am MT.

As company leaders in these and other industries are forced to make tough business decisions that impact an organization’s humans, the best companies to work for navigate layoffs and major organizational changes with compassion for the impacted employees and TLC for the “survivors.” In this highly engaging and super practical “how-to” session, attendees will learn from a moderated panel of HR executives who have been on both sides of the desk during reductions in force.

Panelists include:

• Rae-Ellen Hamilton, US VP of Human Resources at NTT Research, Inc.
• Stanley Wells, former US-Northern Sr. Human Resources Manager at Halliburton
• Erica Wyatt, Chief HR Officer at Intrepid Potash
• Leslie McIntosh, Chief HR Officer at BioScrip, Inc.

Register here to learn the dos and don’ts of compassionate outplacement.