The number of jobs lost to the oil crash plunged in March
There were just 1,279 job cuts in March due to the oil crash.
The latest data from staffing firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed that oil related job cuts were 92% fewer than the nearly 19,000 cuts in February.
The total number of job cuts slowed in March to 36,594 from 41,835 in February.
But looking at the first quarter as a whole shows how bad it was for energy-related employment.
From the release:
Of the 140,214 job cuts announced in the first quarter, 47,610 were directly attributed to falling oil prices. "Without these oil related cuts, we could have been looking one of lowest quarters for job-cutting since the mid-90s when three-month tallies totaled fewer than 100,000. However, the drop in the price of oil has taken a significant toll on oil field services, energy providers, pipelines, and related manufacturing this year," said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
The three-month total of job cuts in the energy sector is up nearly 4000% from a year ago, and Texas has seen the biggest decline in employment countrywide.
The firm also noted that oil companies are not the only energy firms that are downsizing - coal mine closings in West Virginia and other parts of the country have also erased jobs.
Economists forecast that on Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will show employers added 247,000 jobs in March, down from 295,000 in February, with the unemployment rate expected to remain unchanged at 5.5%.