Florida Employers Laid Off 1,638 Workers in September, According to Report

By Matthew Hendley Wed., Oct. 5 2011 at 10:54 AM

Categories: Economy

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via Flickr user brajeshwar

September's numbers on employment from the Bureau of Labor Statistics aren't due until Friday, but a private report says 1,638 Floridians were laid off last month.

The consultants at Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. released their findings this morning, reporting that more than 115,000 American workers were laid off last month, which is the highest one-month total since April 2009.

The largest industry making job cuts was the government sector, which saw 54,182 removed from the payroll across the country last month -- but those weren't the typical jobs a government would cut.

The report says that of those 54,182 government jobs lost, 50,000 of them were a result of the troop-reduction plan of the U.S. Army.

The second-most layoffs occurred in the financial sector, putting 31,167 out of work nationwide -- mostly due to Bank of America.

Other industries with the most job losses were education, energy, and transportation.

The consultants say that 70 percent of the jobs lost nationwide were either in the military or Bank of America, although the report doesn't break that down by state.

The only state-level analysis in the report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas is a comparison of the jobs lost among the states.

Aside from Washington, D.C. -- which takes the hit from the military cuts -- Florida lost only the seventh-most jobs in the country last month.

The states losing more jobs than Florida in September were North Carolina, California, Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee, and Washington.

If the numbers put out in the report hold true, Florida may break its two-month streak of being subject to the second-most mass layoffs in the country, a title the state held in both July and August.

Those numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics won't be released until October 25.

Click here to read the full report, and click here to see Gov. Rick Scott's retraction of his campaign promise to create 700,000 additional jobs in the state.

Follow The Pulp on Facebook and on Twitter: @ThePulpBPB. Follow Matthew Hendley on Facebook and on Twitter: @MatthewHendley.

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