Job cuts soar in September

Job cuts soared last month, topping the 100,000 mark for the first time since last January, as reported by the Associated Press. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas says it's the second straight month of increased job cuts, topping the August tally by 54 percent and the level of a year ago by 40 percent. The increase was led by the auto industry, which announced nearly 34,000 cuts. That was dominated by suppliers who are starting to feel the effects of the production cutbacks at Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler. There were also sizable increases in the telecommunications and housing industries. So far this year employers have announced more than 639,000 job cuts, a drop of 18 percent from a year ago.