While job cuts across all U.S. industries decreased by 22 percent in 2017, both pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors saw a stark increase in job cuts in 2017, according to a recent report published by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement and career transitioning firm.
Here are three things to know.
1. The healthcare sector announced 38,145 job cuts so far this year, which is a 123.9 percent increase from the 17,030 dismissals announced through the same period a year prior.
2. Companies in the pharmaceutical industry have announced 13,254 job cuts so far this year, which is a 48 percent increase from the same period last year, during which time they announced 8,981 cuts.
3. Challenger, Gray & Christmas CEO John Challenger believes that major consolidations may further impact jobs in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.
"While job cut announcements have remained low all year, major M&A activity, such as the CVS/Aetna deal and the possibility of Amazon buying generic pharmaceutical manufacturers, could lead to a spate of large-scale job-cut announcements to open 2018, especially at pharmaceutical, retail, and Healthcare companies," Mr. Challenger said.