U.S. Employers’ Job Cuts Fall 8.8% in March, Report Says

U.S. employers announced fewer job cuts in March than a year earlier, according to a private report released Thursday, Bloomberg reported.

Planned firings fell by 8.8% to a 10-month low of 37,880, according to job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Cuts declined 27% from February.

Job cuts at government and nonprofit agencies were down 86% in the first quarter from a year earlier, the report said.

The Labor Department will release its monthly unemployment rate and jobs figures Friday morning in Washington.

Analysts were forecasting about 205,000 added jobs for the month of March, Bloomberg reported, compared with 227,000 in February.