the wave of layoffs that has dominated headlines around the world is laying low â or at least lower  about 51000 jobs were slashed worldwide in june the lowest number since december according to a bloomberg analysis of jobcut announcements across almost 1300 companies last monthâs tally which dropped 25 from may marked the fourth decline in five months coupled with reports of stillrobust job growth in the us where employers added close to 210000 jobs last month the data suggest central bankersâ dreams may be coming true a gradual cooling of the economy that reins in inflation without triggering a global recession but economists are watching closely to see whether this labor market strength holds out â or if more than a year of interestrate hikes will finally catch up with employersâ and consumers seemingly insatiable demand  the increase in layoffs over the past year comes after a period of lowerthanaverage layoffs in 2021 and early 2022 as some businesses went on hiring binges while others grappled with severe labor shortages âinevitably when the labor market cooled from where we were a year ago we were going to see an increase in layoffsâ said andrew challenger senior vice president of staffing firm challenger gray  christmas inc âthe real question is is it going to go further than that in terms of a real recessionâ  the tech sector which has led the way with more than 200000 job cuts since bloomberg began tracking in october saw a steep drop in announcements last month â down almost 70 from may that may be in part because most companies have already unwound much of the overhiring they did during the pandemic with so much of the population stuck at home tech companies saw a huge spike in demand â and opportunities for growth âthey were on hiring tears never seenâ challenger said  despite the eyepopping headline numbers â all told some 60000 workers in total were axed at amazon meta and alphabet since october â the data suggest many laidoff tech workers have been able to find new jobs relatively quickly while the job market for software engineers may not be quite as frictionless as it once was smaller startups and companies in more traditional industries like banking and auto manufacturing have capitalized on the opportunity to snag top talent the rapid reabsorption of laidoff employees back into the workforce may be one factor contributing to the recordlow unemployment rate and even amid belttightening and talk of a âyear of efficiencyâ the release of chatgpt in november has fueled keen demand for all things artificial intelligence boosting tech stocks and buoying demand for workers â signs that the labor market in silicon valley isnt as dire as the ominous layoff headlines might suggest second only to the tech sector consumer discretionary companies cut more than 160000 jobs since the start of october one such firm swedish automotive safety supplier autoliv took the top spot among businesses announcing cuts in june reporting plans to eliminate some 8000 roles this downsizing comes as factories from the us to japan slow production as orders stall and rising interest rates make it more expensive to invest in highcost equipment industrial firms also let many workers go slashing close to 80000 positions of all the mass layoffs bloomberg has tracked however the largest by far was the estimated 35000 jobs set to be wiped out by ubs group agâs emergency takeover of credit suisse group ag the merger came swiftly amid a crisis of confidence in scandalplagued credit suisse intensified by the collapse of silicon valley bank other major wall street banks have made several rounds of layoffs shedding some of the headcount acquired during the hiring boom of the past couple of years as dealmaking slows in the face of higher interest rates and economic uncertainty just over 100000 jobs have been lost globally across the finance sector since october according to bloombergâs analysis   though inflation has shown signs of easing it may prove stickier than economists hope as wage growth for us workers came in stronger than expected last month and as central bankers continue to hike interest rates the risk climbs that higher borrowing costs will lead to lower investment and slower growth  amid the sometimes discordant data the question remains whether the global economy will fall into recession or will surprise the pessimists and avoid a contraction in light of the surprising resilience of economic and market data some forecasters like bank of america corp and citigroup inc have pushed back projections for a downturn from this year to sometime in 2024