Published February 5, 2015 7:30am EST | Updated May 21, 2015 1:28pm EDT

Challenger Reports 63% Rise In Layoff Announcements On Oil-price Collapse

U.S. based employers announced plans to cut 53,041 jobs in the month of January, a rise of 63% from last month, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday. Over 21,000 of those cuts were directly attributable to the recent decline in oil prices, the report said. There were 42% more layoffs in the energy industry in January than the sector cut in all of 2014 put together.