Layoffs rise 15 pct in May vs April: survey

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. companies' planned layoffs rose 15 percent in May from April to the highest monthly total since December 2005, a report showed on Wednesday.

Planned job cuts in U.S. companies totaled 103,522 in May, up from 90,015 in April, employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported.

May's total was 46 percent higher than the 71,115 planned layoffs in the same month last year.

Heavy downsizing in the automotive sector, which at 30,011 planned layoffs, contributed to the increase in May.

"The recovery plans that Ford and General Motors set into motion two years ago are being derailed due to skyrocketing gasoline prices," said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in a press release.

The second hardest-hit sector was the financial firms, with 16,206 job cuts in May. For the year-to-date, the financial sector leads in job cuts, with a total 66,031 cuts announced so far this year.

"There is no end in sight for the crisis in the financial sector. Every time it looks as though banks will turn the corner back toward prosperity, we hear about another major loss, which is often followed by a job cut announcement," Challenger said.

(Reporting by John Parry; Editing by Leslie Adler & Theodore d'Afflisio)