Job cuts rise in April but Florida losses outpaced by hiring

Announced job cuts in April were three times larger than the number in March, based on layoff notices filed with the state.

The April notices affect 1,978 employees, the most since September 2011. About half of the notices were triggered byAlbertson’sStores’ plans to close 13 locations by summer.

Despite a rise in Florida’s planned cuts, the number of layoffs is light compared with the past five years, said John Challenger, chief executive of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. He said it’s too early to tell whether the monthly upswing indicates the start of another economic slowdown.

“Eighty percent of Broward County’s small and medium-sized business owners said they expect business to get “much better” in the next 18 months,” according to a survey released Thursday by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance and Kaufman Rossin. Fifty-three percent said they expect to hire this year.

Florida has added 72,300 jobs since February 2011, ranking fourth among states with significant employment changes, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In March, Florida gained 10,800 jobs.

So job seekers should know that “more people are finding jobs than are losing them,” Challenger said.

Announced job cuts in the state totaled 2,536 in April compared with 888 in March, according to Challenger’s firm.

Florida had 21 layoff notices compared with seven each March and February. A 60-day notice of a major layoff is required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification. April’s WARN notices were the highest since May 2009 and the most issued in April since before the recession, according to Sun Sentinel research.

Nationwide, employers announced 40,559 planned job cuts in April, a 7.1 percent increase from 37,880 job cuts announced in March, according to the outplacement firm.

Last month’s job cuts were led by the education sector, where school districts continue to be under pressure to cut costs due to state and local budget deficits. In April, 9,027 planned cuts were announced by educational institutions across the country. That was up 142 percent from 3,733 cuts in March.

Still, the pace of downsizing in education is down 32 percent from a year ago, Challenger said.

April unemployment numbers have not yet been released, but from February to March, Florida lost a net 300 jobs in elementary and secondary education, but gained 1,100 at colleges and universities.

Florida’s unemployment rate fell to 9 percent in March from 9.4 percent in February, with South Florida’s rate averaging 8.4 percent.

The state’s initial unemployment claims fell for the week ended April 21, according to the Department of Labor. State claims were down by 1,418 in April, due to fewer layoffs in agriculture, construction, retail and service industries.

Nationwide, the advance figure of initial claims in the week ending April 28 was 365,000, a decrease of 27,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 392,000.

That lower level of claims is a positive sign for the economy, Challenger said. “When levels are in that area, there’s room for job creation.”