Mubasher: Employers in the US announced plans to cut 75,644 jobs in October, marking the highest level since July 2015, according to a recent report on Thursday.

Job cuts in October rose 36.8% from 55,285 in September, with a 153.6% year-on-year rise from 29,831 job cuts in the same month last year, consultancy firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas said.

Around 58.2% of the job cuts in October came from Verizon’s announcement that it would offer voluntary severance packages to 44,000 managers in order to save $10 billion.

US bank Wells Fargo’s announcement of 26,000 layoffs in September accounted for 47.9% of the job cuts, while Toys “R” Us announced 33,000 cuts, making up 54.7% of the 60,357 job cuts announcements last March.

“All three of these companies are in industries facing serious disruptions, requiring companies to pivot to meet consumer demand,” the consultancy’s vice president Andrew Challenger said.

“The increase in job cut announcements could indeed indicate we’re heading toward a downturn, although employers are still holding on to their workers for the most part,” Challenger added.

Retailers continued to lead in job cut plans in October with 7,350 out of 92,375 announced job cuts occurring during the month.