Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks monthly layoffs in the U.S., said that the picture got a bit better in September ... unless you work in the housing industry.
According to Reuters, "announced layoffs totaled 71,739 in September, down 9.7% from 79,459 in August, when it hit a six-month high." A third of the jobs that disappeared were in the home-building and mortgage businesses. Cuts in these industries are now 17% of all layoffs this year. In 2006, the number was 2%.
What the firm does not say is what will happen next. But that is not hard to guess. Companies like Countrywide (NYSE: CFC) and Hovnanian (NYSE: HOV) will not be able to weather the mortgage and home price crisis at the rate that buyers are moving out of the market and sellers are moving in.
Home builder Lennar (NYSE: LEN) has over 12,000 employees, according to its recent public filings. That means that the five or six largest firms in the industry have over 100,000 workers. Countrywide has a staff of 60,000 and has begun cuts that should take out about 12,000 people.
There are tens of thousands of jobs in the housing and related industries that could still go away.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
Why do we have a weak dollar?
Holiday hiring slow for retailers
Closing Bell: What sell-off? (AIG, ABK, EPR, MBI, JAVA, ORCL, ERTS)
