“Job cuts announced by U.S. employers increased 27 percent in April from a year earlier, reflecting the crisis in financial markets, according to a report by a private placement firm.

Firing announcements rose to 90,015 last month, the most since September 2006, from 70,672 in April 2007, Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said in a statement today.” (Via Bloomberg)

There is no real surprise here. Financial firms are the hardest hit by the “Credit Crunch™” and have been announcing layoffs for the past few weeks. These jobs are very cyclical and workers are usually aware of the risk as the downside to the high salary.

If we begin seeing big increases in layoffs in core industies like manufacturing and retail, then there will be cause for alarm.