Aug 1, 2019
Companies lay off workers even in the best economic times
The unemployment rate is hovering around a 50-year low, but some companies are still shedding jobs.

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The U.S. job market remains strong right now, with the official unemployment rate at 3.7%, but layoffs have spiked recently. A new report from employment consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows that so far in 2019, companies have announced layoffs of 36% more workers than by this time last year. The automotive and industrial goods sectors have shed the most jobs in the past few months. On Friday, the Labor Department will shed more light on how those layoffs affect the overall unemployment rate with its June jobs report.
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