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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With John Challenger
Aired December 29, 2001 - 09:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, one of the conditions of the America West bailout is the airline must control labor costs. Read into that what you will, though some America West workers may be seeking John Challenger's help. He's CEO of the Chicago-based employment consulting firm of Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, specializing in outplacement.
Hi, John.
JOHN CHALLENGER, CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS: Hi, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about how many jobs we did actually lose this year. A lot of people have been talking about it.
CHALLENGER: There have been many. We've seen over 1.8 million job cuts announced that's -- this year. That's triple what we saw last year.
PHILLIPS: Wow. So how has the job market changed since September 11?
CHALLENGER: Well, it's gotten worse, 624,00-plus of those jobs have come since 9/11. Many companies, especially in high tech and in the travel areas, have been hit hard since the attacks.
PHILLIPS: Let's get a little bit more specific about the industries that were hardest hit since 9/11.
CHALLENGER: Well, certainly it was the travel sector, travel agencies, airlines, hotels, restaurants, convention centers. Those industries bore the brunt of what happened after 9/11. But they -- it wasn't alone, because the high-tech industry continued to nosedive.
PHILLIPS: Now, I was reading here that since September 11, you tracked more than 624,000 job cut announcements?
CHALLENGER: We saw the largest monthly totals for job cuts that we have ever tracked come in the two months right after 9/11. There was 248,000-plus cuts announced in the month of September, and that was an all-time record.
PHILLIPS: Please tell me there's some sectors that are picking up. CHALLENGER: Well, there are. Health care have -- you know, has been strong right on through, hospitals, medical practices, pharmaceutical companies. So has the bunch of other industries, including energy, electrical power, utilities, the insurance industry has been relatively strong in times of uncertainty, more businesses and people go out and buy insurance.
PHILLIPS: Did you say aerospace and defense?
CHALLENGER: Well, sure, of course. We've seen some big announcements of hiring plans in the defense industry. Lockheed has announced up to 9,000 new hires, Raytheon 1,400, Northrup Grumman 1,000 new hires in 2002. So there've been some very strong plans in that area.
And then of course security. Data security, just as well all the buildings around the country are hiring security guards in ways they just didn't used to do, air marshals on planes. So the security industry is heating up as well.
PHILLIPS: Now, looking at the job market and kind of looking across the country, are there certain states -- let's say I lost my job. Is there a certain state that I would definitely want to go to because it's having -- it has more job opportunities right now than another part of the country?
CHALLENGER: Well, there are certainly areas like, say, Houston, which has benefited from the energy boom, all of the computers and the technology require electrical power. Oil and gas has continued to be strong. Construction and real estate has been a booming area, surprisingly, right on through 2001, it should continue as we move into next year.
And that would certainly mean the West, because there's been so much new housing being built in the last year in the mountain states, you know, and certainly in the Southwest.
PHILLIPS: So what would be your advice, let's say, for folks that have recently been laid off? Would you say completely switch industries and look to something else? I mean, it's not so easy for some folks who spent their whole life in one type of career.
CHALLENGER: People often misunderstand the difference between what you've been doing and going to work for a different kind of company. We saw 41 percent of people change industries in the last quarter, in the third quarter of 2001. But that doesn't mean that you're starting a new career. It means if you've been in, say, sales or human resources or finance -- and most people are in those basic fields -- you can leave, say, manufacturing, which has been suffering heavy losses, and move into health care or energy or some of these stronger sectors in the economy, and stay within your field.
PHILLIPS: John Challenger, thank you for the ray of hope this morning.
CHALLENGER: Thanks, Kyra. PHILLIPS: All right.
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