US companies laid off 65,141 workers last month bringing job cuts year-to-date to their highest levels since 2009 according to a respected private study.

The number is a 35% increase over that in March and suggests that the rout in the US’s energy sector is far from over. In the first quarter, employers said they would hand out 250,000 redundancy notices – the highest January to April number since 2009.

There are large scale layoffs in the energy sector which is suffering from lower profits as a result of low oil prices but other sectors are contending with mounting job losses too. “Areas like retail and computers are also feeling the strain,” said Floyd Paché, chief economist at Shinsei Corporate Management.

“This is disturbing because what we’re seeing is job losses in sectors and industries like energy, mining and computers that typically pay very well. Those jobs are being replaced by low paying, part-time roles in retail, food and beverage and healthcare,” he added.

The report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas said that energy bore the bulk of the downsizing by US companies accounting for 19,759 jobs. The computer industry followed closely with 17,000 with the 12,000 recently announced layoffs by chip firm, Intel, making up the lion’s share of that number.

Retail sector said it would let 5,145 workers go in April.

Shinsei Corporate Management says job losses in the energy sector are expected to continue as the global supply glut shows little sign of abating in the short to medium term but there may be some respite for the mining sector which is expected to receive a boost from a reversal in commodity prices so far in 2016.

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