For those keeping score, the latest monthly tally of job cuts in the pharmaceutical industry numbered just 200 in August, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the outplacement consulting firm. This constrasts with 2,023 jobs lost in July, 830 cut in June and 6,943 trimmed in May. So far this year, pharma has shed 37,265 jobs, compared with 53,004 last year. If the latest numbers appear relatively encouraging, though, consider that the firm found pharma plans to add just eight jobs right now, according to its hiring statistics (here is the report).

Of course, jobs are coming and going all the time. And as we have noted before, it remains possible the picture is even worse, because the report may not capture every lost job. Layoffs often occur in dribs and drabs, which means some job losses do not land on radar screens monitored by the media or state labor departments, which require notice when a certain number of jobs are to be eliminated. Cypress Bioscience, however, recently notified California authorities that 123 jobs will soon go (see this). This approach to layoffs will continue for the foreseeable future, so getting a true picture remains challenging.