The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell modestly in July, though the healthcare and defense sectors saw the biggest job cuts, a report on Thursday showed.
Employers announced 37,701 layoffs last month, down 4.2 percent from 39,372 in June, according to the report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Still, July's job cuts were up 2.3 percent from the same time a year ago. For 2013 so far, employers have announced 296,633 job losses, down from the 319,946 that were seen in the first seven months of last year.