San Francisco, Mar 13 (IANS): Companies in the US cut 77,770 jobs in February, compared to 1,02,943 in January, with technology companies continuing to lead the layoff race, cutting 21,387 jobs last month, accounting for 28 per cent of all cuts, a new report has shown.

According to executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the tech industry has cut a total of 63,216, up 33,705 per cent from the 187 cuts announced in the same period last year.

This sector has announced 35 per cent of all job cuts in 2023.

"Certainly, employers are paying attention to rate increase plans from the Fed. Many have been planning for a downturn for months, cutting costs elsewhere. If things continue to cool, layoffs are typically the last piece in company cost-cutting strategies," said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

"Right now, the overwhelming bulk of cuts are occurring in Technology. Retail and Financial are also cutting right now, as consumer spending matches economic conditions," he added.

Moreover, the report said that the Health Care/Products space, which includes hospitals and health care products manufacturers, announced the second-most cuts in February with 9,749, for a total of 16,482 this year -- an 85 per cent increase from the 8,928 cuts announced during the same time last year.

Retailers have announced 17,456 cuts so far in 2023, up 2,194 per cent from the 761 job cuts announced in the sector during the same period in 2022.

Financial firms have cut 17,235, 1,401 per cent higher than the 1,148 cuts announced in January and February last year.

In the first two months of the year, Fintech has announced 4,675 cuts, 45 per cent of the 10,476 the industry cut in all of 2022, the report mentioned.

So far in 2023, the media industry has announced plans to cut 9,738 jobs, a 158 per cent increase from the 3,774 cuts announced in the sector all of last year.