Date: Wednesday, August 3, 2011, 8:37am CDT

 July job gains were higher than anticipated — 114,000 jobs in the private sector, but planned layoffs were the highest since March 2010.

Reuters reported a survey of economists that predicted the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of 100,000 jobs. That is down from June’s job increase of 145,000.

Meanwhile, planned layoffs at U.S. firms were at a 16-month high, according to consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Latest from The Business Journals Number of Colorado layoffs down in JulyColorado job layoff numbers dropped in JulyCEO turnover heavy in June, report says Follow this company

The company’s July layoffs report said employers announced 66,414 planned job cuts, which is up 60.3 percent from the 41,432 announced layoffs in June.

In July, the pharmaceutical and retail sectors led the job cuts at 20.32 percent and 16.93 percent of announcements, respectively, Reuters reported. But, so far this year, government and nonprofit jobs have planned for the most layoffs, according to the report.

Diane Delgado LeMaire | Senior Managing Director, Accounting & Finance Recruiting | Creative Financial Staffing, a division of Fitts, Roberts CPA Firm | 5718 Westheimer Suite 800 | Houston, TX 77057 | 713-260-5238 | dcd@fittsroberts.com| Blog| Twitter| LinkedIn