u.s. private sector cuts 697,000 jobs in febru, page-2

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Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported that the number of planned job cuts announced in February fell for the first time since December.

"The decline in job cuts last month offers some hope that January was the peak and we will now see layoffs begin to fall or at least stabilize," John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement. "Hopefully we have seen the last instance of monthly job cuts in excess of 200,000," he said.

Job cut announcements by U.S. employers totaled 186,350 in February, down 23% from January's 241,749 cuts, which was a seven-year high according to Challenger.