Dive Brief:

• Do some recent economic indicators, including a relatively high increase in state unemployment benefits requests, mean the U.S. labor market is slowing down, especially in the energy and retail sectors? Perhaps, according to a Reuters report appearing in the New York Times Thursday. 
• However, the U.S. Labor Department announced that the U.S. job count rose by 151,000 in January, signs of "healthy pace" though a slowdown since December. On Thursday, the Labor Department's seasonally adjusted data ending the week of Jan. 30 found state unemployment benefits claims increased 8,000 to 285,000.
• Another indicator that employment may be waning (along with the drop of new jobs from the 2015 employment hot streak) came in a report that found a 218% rise in announced layoffs from U.S.-based employers in January. Most of the planned layoffs are expected to come from the sagging energy sector and retail.

Dive Insight:

Global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported to Reuters that employers were planning on 75,114 job cuts in January, up from December's 15-year low of 23,622. Key retailers plan to cut 22,246 jobs, and employers in the hurting energy sector expect to lay off 20,246, up from 1,682 in December, Reuters reports.

Of course, with these negative projections (and despite the 151,000 new jobs), HR leaders in the energy sector will continue to face the typical challenges associated with high levels of layoffs, particularly as they look for ways to keep remaining employee morale and engagement high.