Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Job cuts announced by U.S. employers jumped 19 percent in January from a year earlier as businesses attempted to rein in costs, according to a report by a private placement firm.

Announcements increased to 74,986 last month from 62,975 in January 2007, Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said today. The figures aren't adjusted for seasonal effects, so economists prefer to focus on year-over-year changes instead of monthly figures.

Companies may trim their workforces further as the worst housing slump in a quarter century threatens to push the economy into a recession, economists said. The report is consistent with government figures last week that showed the U.S. lost jobs in January for the first time in more than four years.

``Job losses were still concentrated in housing-related sectors,'' John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of the placement company, said in a statement. ``If the economy dips into a full-blown recession, it will likely be caused by a drop in consumer spending and the effects of the high price of energy.''

The number of planned job cuts surged 69 percent last month from 44,416 in December, the report said.

Factory Orders

A government report today indicated business spending on new equipment is growing even as hiring falters. Orders to U.S. factories rose 2.3 percent in December, the biggest increase since July, after advancing 1.7 percent the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding orders for transportation equipment, which tend to be volatile, demand climbed 0.7 percent.

Financial firms led the job reductions last month, with 15,789 cuts, or more than one-fifth of the total. Construction cuts, including those at builders, accounted for 1,245 announcements in January, and employers in the automotive industry shed 7,142 jobs.

``The data are consistent with a weakening, but not collapsing, labor market,'' said Drew Matus, a senior economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in New York.

Wyeth Job Cuts

Some employers outside of housing-related businesses also are slimming down. Wyeth, a Madison, New Jersey-based drug maker, said on Jan. 31 that it will reduce its worldwide workforce by 4 percent to 6 percent over the next month.

``We are going to take a much more strategic look at the business and what it should look like in 2010, and the impact could be as high as a 10 percent headcount reduction over the next two to three years,'' Greg Norden, Wyeth's Chief Financial Officer, said in a telephone interview.

A Labor Department report on Feb. 1 showed the economy unexpectedly lost 17,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent from 5 percent. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected 70,000 jobs to have been created in January, according to the median of 80 forecasts.

The Challenger report on job cuts does not always correlate with figures on first-time jobless claims or employment as reported by the government.

Many job cuts are carried out through attrition or early retirement. Some employees whose jobs are eliminated find work elsewhere in their companies, and many announced staff cuts never take place because business improves. Challenger's totals also include foreign affiliates.

To contact the reporter on this story: Courtney Schlisserman at cschlisserma@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 4, 2008 10:35 EST