The best time to prepare for being let go is while you’re still punching in at work.
While employment overall has been rosy — the unemployment rate went down 20 basis points to 3.6% in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — signs of job cuts are emerging.
Last month, U.S.-based businesses indicated that they would trim 40,023 jobs, according to data from Challenger Gray & Christmas.
In all, companies announced 230,433 job cuts in the first four months of 2019, up 31% from the year earlier period, the outplacement firm found.
Read more: Here’s what to do if US-China trade war ignites layoffs