Planned job cuts rise to 5-montyh high in January

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of planned layoffs at U.S. companies rose to the highest level in five months in January, led by the retail and telecommunications sectors, a report on Wednesday showed.

Employers announced 71,482 planned job cuts last month, up 59 percent from December and the most monthly job cuts since August, according to the report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc, a global outplacement consultancy.

"The increase in January is not necessarily a sign of a recession relapse. It is not uncommon to see a surge in job-cut announcements to begin the year," said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in a statement.

"Companies are making adjustments based on the previous year's results and the outlook for the year ahead. The beginning of the year is particularly rough on retail workers, as these employers enter one of the slower sales periods of the year," he said.

The January job cuts were up from 45,094 in December and marked the first increase since July. December had marked the fewest job cuts in 24 months.

Still, the planned layoffs remain well below year-ago levels, when planned job cuts hit 241,749 in January 2009, the peak of downsizing activity in the recession.

"The fact that January job cuts did not exceed 100,000 bodes well for much lighter downsizing this year," Challenger said. "Of course, any major shock to the economy could set off a surge in job cuts but, at the moment, conditions appear to have stabilized.

(Reporting by Chris Reese; Editing by Leslie Adler)