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Planned job cuts declined to the second lowest level of the year during August.

A recent report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that employers announced a total of 76,456 layoffs last month, a 21 percent decrease from the 97,373 job cuts announced during July. This is the sixth time during the last seven months that job cuts declined from the previous month.

In addition, job cuts were lower than a year ago for the third consecutive month, with August cuts coming in 14 percent below the 88,736 layoffs announced during 2008.

Despite the declines, announced job cuts for the year have amounted to 1,070,504, which is 60 percent more than the same time last year and less than 200,000 away from surpassing the 2008 year-end total of 1,223,993.

The government and non-profit sector saw the biggest job cuts, with 38,586 planned layoffs. That represents the second largest monthly industry total of the year behind the 61,288 job cuts announced by the automotive industry in February.

The largest reduction in force in the government or any other sector last month was announced by the United States Post Office, which detailed plans to eliminate 30,000 positions from a 656,000 employee payroll. Most of those layoffs will be achieved through early retirement buyouts, which includes a $15,000 incentive for some.

“Until now, government job cuts have been dominated by local and state agencies suffering from depleted budgets,” CEO John A. Challenger said. “The federal government has been one of the few areas of the economy that is creating jobs. Fortunately, the job cuts by the Post Office are not indicative of a coming surge in federal government downsizing. Rather, the cuts are tied to falling mail volume as more Americans rely on e-mail.”

“Outside of government, many sectors are seeing the number of job cuts steadily shrink,” he continued. “The next four months will be very telling about the state of the job market. The final four months of the year are typically among the heaviest for downsizing. If monthly job-cut levels remain near 100,000 or lower, it will be a strong indication that the economy and job market are improving.

“That does not necessarily mean that there will be a sudden surge in job creation as 2010 gets underway, but we will at least be heading in the right direction,” Challenger added. “Unfortunately, the aftermath of this severe downturn may see excessive caution among employers when it comes to hiring. So, even when job creation begins, it could be a slow process.”

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