Mass layoffs continue amid job growth

Alas, massive job losses are still with us even though the U.S. economy is now posting net job gains. And economists expect federal data scheduled for release on Friday to show brisk job growth for May.
 

But reminders of the precariousness of the U.S. job market remain. Yesterday, Hewlett-Packard said that it plans to cut 9,000 jobs as it streamlines its data centers. And Citigroup plans to slash as many as 720 jobs in its CitiFinancial consumer-lending unit. So good news about the job market is tempered by continued mass layoffs.
 

Still, a Challenger, Gray & Christmas report released today heralds a stabilizing job market. The announced job cuts in May were basically unchanged from April. May had 38,810 announced job cuts, about on par with April’s 38,326. And April set a more-than-four-year low.
 

Long Island’s economy has shown unexpected resilience, with a gain of 6,700 private-sector jobs in the 12 months ended in April, the first increase since May 2008, according to state data.