Job cuts hit eight-month high

Employers announced 48,711 job cuts in November, up 28% from the prior month. It is the highest amount of employment reduction since March, when 67,611 layoffs were announced, according to a report from Challenger, Gray and Christmas Inc.

The November layoffs are about 3% lower than those from a year ago, and layoffs from the first 11 months of the year are 60% lower than in 2009.

The hardest-hit industry for the month was the government and non-profit sector, the report said, with 10,761 layoffs announced. It's the seventh time this year that government and non-profits suffered the most layoffs of any industry, the report said.

CEO John Challenger does not expect that trend to subside in the next several months, as newly elected congressmen and women continue to push for reductions in government spending.

Unfortunately the downward trend in unemployment is not limited to one industry, Challenger says, and there is “little evidence” of a comeback in 2011.

The month's layoff total was offset slightly by 26,012 announced hirings, with roughly 15,900 of those being seasonal retail employees. In October, retailers hired 66,000 seasonal workers, the report said.