Mike: States throughout the country are facing difficult financial times. Some states are running low on operating funds, such as CA (see below video). States like SC and now MO are exhausting their benefit funds at this early stage of the recession. Many states have understaffed unemployment offices which leads to many not receiving benefits for weeks. Without some immediate financial help from the feds, many states will be forced to increase taxes AND institute draconian job and service cuts. Police and fire departments are already being decimated with layoffs. Prison guards are being dismissed along with the prisoners they once guarded because prison funding is being chopped. Substandard schools are losing funding, which means fewer teachers teaching more students per class. These are just a few examples of the troubles facing states. What follows are a couple of stories which show the dire straights of state funds for unemployment and general operating expenses.
– Let’s start with CA where the governator recently told the state that they are facing a dire financial situation:
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Mike: Not only is Michigan getting crushed with job losses, as the story below shows, but the unemployed are having a tough time getting timely benefits:
* MID-MICHIGAN (WJRT) — (01/05/09)–A Mid-Michigan man has been laid off and is on hold.
Cases like his are on the rise as the state’s government tries to keep up.
Michigan’s automated phone system for unemployment benefits is backed up. And it’s leaving some families struggling to survive.
via Unemployment system flooded with calls for help – 1/05/09 – Flint News and Saginaw News – abc12.com.
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Mike: Missouri’s unemployment fund is broke and needs to be replenished:
* JEFFERSON CITY | Missouri may soon have to borrow money to pay benefits to the rising number of unemployed people.
State Labor Director Todd Smith said Monday that Missouri may have to borrow about $40 million from the federal government before April to pay jobless benefits.
via Missouri jobless benefits fund going broke — again – Kansas City Star.
Mike: Unemployed South Carolinians were caught in an audit squabble between the governor and and the state’s Commerce Department. Funding was restored, but it shows how the unemployed are not showed any respect for their needs:
* More than 70,000 out-of-work South Carolinians caught up in a fight between the governor and the Employment Security Commission were relieved when the state’s chief executive agreed to an 11th-hour action that continues their benefit checks.
Gov. Mark Sanford agreed to sign off on a request for a $146 million federal loan just as unemployment benefits were set to run out. But he demanded that the commission meet certain requirements.
via Sanford comes through on state jobless benefits.
Mike: And FL is feeling the budget heat in all areas:
* On Monday Miami-Dade school superintendent Alberto Carvalho told CBS4’s Michael Williams, “Florida ranks 47th in the nation in per pupil funding. To make additional cuts is just unthinkable. We are destroying public education.”
Mike: While the Obama stimulus plan is expected to bring states some relief, the Republicans in congress won’t be in any hurry to make Obama look good, so don’t think the states will be bailed out quickly:
* Many parts of Obama’s plan would infuse money quickly into the economy, according to budget experts. These include up to $200 billion for recession-hit state governments to avoid layoffs, cutbacks in services and raising their own taxes. Expanded food stamp and unemployment benefits would arrive mostly in 2009. The Obama team says the measure will include up to $300 billion in federal tax cuts, about half taking effect almost immediately by withholding less from paychecks of most workers.
via The Associated Press: Analysis: Can Uncle Sam spend cash fast enough?.
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Mike: Needless to say, this will be a very trying time for many states and their residents. We can hope for better times sometime during 2009, but that’s being optimistic, especially after reading and hearing from Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xqw4Z-Z8Vs&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?sa=N&tab=nv&q=krugman%20depression]
Mike: In closing, things are bad and likely to get worse for the next year, but the US and world economies have seen difficult financial conditions in the past and fought their way to prosperity. Keep those fingers crossed….
– Onto the latest layoff announcements and economic news:
- Microsoft and IBM Rumors/News
General Economic News
Municipal News
US and some Canada Layoff News
International News
Hiring News
– Microsoft and IBM News/Rumors –
* Bloggers and analysts on Monday poured cold water on rumors that Microsoft plans to lay off a substantial number of its employees. The rumors, which surfaced in late December, suggested that the company might shave off as much as 17 percent of its 95,000-plus workforce.
via Redmond Channel Partner Online | News: Microsoft Mum on Rumored Layoffs .
* In an e-mail to Edge, a Microsoft spokesperson stopped short of denying the report, stating the company “does not provide comment on rumor and speculation.” He did not offer any color on how the games division could possibly be affected.
via News: Microsoft tight-lipped on layoff rumors – ComputerAndVideoGames.com.
* Windows — the cornerstone of Microsoft’s software portfolio — was hard hit toward the end of the year. In early December, analysts announced that the OS’s market share had dipped below 90 percent for the first time. Then its share declined yet another percentage point over the Holiday Season. Most of those Windows machines were replaced with computers running Apple’s Mac OS X, but some also went to Microsoft’s most hated rival, the open source Linux OS.
* According to comments made by numerous IBM workers on several discussion boards, the outfit is planning a massive job cut in January.
Workers believe IBM announce the move in the first half of January, before it posts its quarterly results. The outfit currently employs 386,000 workers worldwide, and according to some of them who took part in the discussions, as many as 4 percent, or 16,000, will get their notice on January 23.
- Tuesday: Factory Orders
- Tuesday: Pending Home Sales Index.
The trade group said Tuesday its seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell 4 percent to 82.3 from a downwardly revised October reading of 85.7 in October.
via Pending home sales plunge to record low in Nov.: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance.
Mike: The fallout from the above report can be seen in the following stroy:
* TAMPA – Tampa-based Walter Industries Inc. announced today that it is closing its Jim Walter Homes subsidiary.
Jim Walter Homes has built more than 350,000 homes since it opened in 1946, but it has not been profitable in several years.
The closure will result in 230 jobs lost nationwide, including 45 at the company’s headquarters in Tampa.
via Jim Walter Homes Closing; Job Losses Include 45 In Tampa.
* WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to factories fell for a record fourth straight month in November, reflecting the intensifying effects of the country’s steep recession.
The Commerce Department says orders declined by 4.6 percent in November, nearly double the 2.5 percent drop economists expected. Orders have been falling since August, including a 6 percent plunge in October, the biggest setback in eight years.
via Factory orders drop more than expected in Nov.: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance.
Mike: The following “slowing” in the decline in the service sector is a similar to the UKs report, which is available in the International section of this post. I guess a slowing contraction is an improvement:
* NEW YORK (AP) — A private research group says the U.S. services sector contracted at a slower pace in December as new orders and employment improved.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said Tuesday that its services sector index rose to 40.6 in December from 37.3 in November. Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected the index to slip slightly to 37.0.
via Services index shows less contraction in December: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance.
The grim numbers underscore how matters went from bad to worse for automakers last year as jittery consumers stayed out of showrooms. Those woes are expected result in even lower sales for 2009, with automakers expected to ratchet back incentives starting in the spring and financing remaining tighter than had been the norm.
via 2nd UPDATE: US Auto Sales Slump Again, Capping Woeful 2008.
– Municipal News –
* Orange County handed out layoff notices to 210 social service workers Monday, the first of a wave of cuts intended to trim more than $32 million from this year’s budget.
Another 100 vacant positions in the agency were also eliminated.
via OC lays off 210 county workers | county, services, year, orange, cuts – News – OCRegister.com.
* Eyeing an ever-widening budget gap, Los Angeles Unified School District officials said Monday they could soon send nearly 3,000 nonpermanent teachers notices warning of imminent layoffs.
via-3,000 LAUSD teachers face layoffs
* Lincoln is the latest city in the region to face a wave of layoffs, and city workers, including police and firefighters, have been notified that their jobs could be gone.
What was once one of California’s fastest growing cities is now racking up substantial debt, and city leaders say layoffs may be in the works as early as this week.
“We don’t have enough money to provide the same level of service as we have in the past,” said city councilman Tom Cosgrove. “I think [layoffs] are the toughest. They’re also the last resort.”
via cbs13.com – Lincoln City Workers Facing Layoffs This Week .
* RENO – Citing the loss of 17 flights since last year, the Reno-Tahoe International Airport is announcing 11 people are being laid off, and other measures taken to save $2.5 million dollars.
In addition to the layoffs, the budget cuts will also include freezing positions, a voluntary salary freeze, buyouts, and program eliminations.
* BROOKSVILLE – The downturn in the local construction industry has claimed the jobs of six more building department employees, the county announced Monday.
* COLUMBIA — The South Carolina Education Department says most of a potential $349 million budget cut that legislators may need would fall on local school districts………
Meanwhile, the department said it would cut 107 jobs and the biggest reductions would affect bus operations, jobs and salaries. But it would also look to eliminate school nurse slots, reduce teacher incentive pay and text book spending as well as dropout and assessment programs.
* Sacramento on Monday announced it has laid off eight workers in the city’s development services department due to falling revenue.
The affected workers, civil engineers and technicians within the department, were notified Friday.
via City lays off eight development services workers – Sacramento Business Journal: .
* BROOKSVILLE — Six workers in Hernando County’s Development Department were laid off Monday due to the continuing slump in new construction.
via More county workers laid off in Hernando .
* BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal’s plan to close a $341 million budget deficit will cost at least 335 state employees their jobs — mainly in the state Department of Corrections.
Seventy people hired for a new skilled nursing unit for prisoners will be let go because the facility at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel won’t be expanded as planned.
* SANTA ANA – City officials are raising some trash rates and will begin laying off several dozen workers this week as they struggle to fix a cash-strapped budget in an unraveling economy.
Most cities are feeling an economic pinch as their main sources of money – especially the sales tax – slow. But Santa Ana started the fiscal year facing down a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, and its bottom line has only gone south from there.
* Eleven employees of the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission will be laid off because casino projects haven’t started, Stephen Martino, executive director of the agency, said Tuesday.
via LJWorld.com / “State gaming commission lays off 10 workers” by Statehouse Briefing .
* Fresno, CA, USA (KFSN) — Clovis city leaders made a painful decision that could affect residents the next time they need a police officer to respond.
The council agreed to cut eleven police officer positions and six firefighters.
via Clovis Police and Fire Fighter Job Cuts – 1/06/09 – Fresno News – abc30.com.
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* FREMONT, Calif. – Logitech International SA, a maker of mice, webcams and other computer peripherals, said Monday it is cutting its salaried work force by 15 percent in response to weak consumer demand amid what it expects to be an extended global downturn.
Switzerland-based Logitech, which also has offices in Fremont, has about 3,500 salaried employees in a total work force of about 9,000.
via Logitech to cut salaried staff by 15 percent (AP) by AP: Yahoo! Tech .
* Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) — Logitech International SA, the biggest maker of computer mice, will cut 15 percent of its non- manufacturing jobs and withdrew its fiscal 2009 profit targets because of the deepening global recession.
* LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Health insurer Cigna Corp (CI.N) said on Monday it will cut 1,100 jobs, or about 4 percent of its workforce, and consolidate certain operations as it copes with the economic downturn.
As a result, the company said it expects to record after-tax restructuring charges of $30 million to $40 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.
via Cigna to cut 1,100 jobs, citing weak economy | Reuters .
* In a second round of cuts, Perceptive Software Inc. laid off 53 employees on Monday, or 10 percent of its work force.
via Perceptive Software lays off 53 – Kansas City Business Journal: .
* Xerox was one of the first companies to recognize the slumping economy and take steps to deal with it.
The company has offered separation packages seeking to trim roughly 5.2 percent of its employees worldwide. If not enough people step forward to reach that goal, some will face layoffs.
via Xerox Copes With Recession; Layoffs Possible – 13WHAM.com .
* Wind tower manufacturer DMI Industries says it is cutting about 20 percent of its work force due to declining demand from developers struggling to get financing for wind projects.
via Wind tower maker cutting about 20 percent of jobs – BusinessWeek.
* SPRINGFIELD – The daily and Sunday Republican announced Monday it will reduce its workforce and restructure some of its operations as a result of a deteriorating economy.
Publisher Larry A. McDermott told employees in a letter that 22 full-time represented positions and 14 part-time positions would be eliminated.
via Republican plans layoffs – MassLive.com .
* Harrah’s Entertainment announced late Monday that it had eliminated or “reclassified” 70 positions at the Rio Hotel & Casino. Reclassified is defined by reducing full-time staff to part-time.
via Layoffs at the Rio Hotel-Casino.
* Atlanta-based Definition 6 laid off approximately eight staffers in recent weeks. Cuts at the full-service digital agency affected employees at all levels, from director positions to rank-and-file account executives.
via Atlanta’s Definition 6 Joins Digital Agency Layoff Club – ClickZ.
* Automotive castings company JL French has enacted layoffs at the Glasgow plant.
* NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- LPL Financial, an independent broker/dealer, said it will cut 10% of its work force, or approximately 275 employees, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In the Dec. 31 filing, LPL said it announced the staff reduction to reduce costs as part of a “comprehensive strategic business review.”
via LPL Financial To Lay Off 10% Of Work Force To Cut Costs.
* R.L. Stowe Mills will close its doors after almost 108 years in the sales yarn business, company officials announced today.
Harding Stowe, the company’s president and chief executive, said the yarn operation will close facilities in Tennessee and North Carolina which will put about 550 people out of work. About 350 of those employees work in the Chattanooga area, he said.
* The tough economy is hitting specialty veterinarian manufacturing company Heska.
The company today started laying off “less than 10 percent” of its 312 workers in Loveland and Des Moines, Iowa, chief financial officer Jason Napolitano said.
via Economic slowdown hits Heska | LovelandConnection.com | Loveland Connection.
* U.S. Steel Corp. said today it is eliminating its drawn-over-mandrel tubing products business and closing those lines at its Lone Star, Texas, plant, resulting in a fourth-quarter pre-tax charge of about $25 million and the loss of about 50 jobs.
via U.S. Steel to close tubing unit in Texas – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
* Robert Bosch Corp. will trim about 10% of its 2,100-member work force in North Charleston, the company said Monday.
Out of the roughly 200 people who will be affected, about 75 accepted a severance package offered by Bosch in early December, said spokeswoman Becky MacDonald.
via Charleston Regional Business Journal | Charleston, SC.
* GRAND RAPIDS — Slowdowns in housing and consumer spending are driving cutbacks at Kindel Furniture Co., the city’s only residential furniture maker.
On Monday, company officials told their 130 employees they would lay off 19 full-time and five part-time workers, and go to a four-day work week for everyone else starting this week.
* In Kleberg county, about a hundred people have lost their jobs after a uranium mining operation shut down.
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* Les Schwab Tire Centers is laying off 27 people at its Prineville distribution center, according to Bend TV station KTVZ.
“We’re selling fewer tires, and that affects everyone,” Schab executive Jodi Hueske told the station. “We’re loading (fewer) tires on our trucks and hauling fewer tires to our stores.”
via Schwab Tire lays off 27 in Prineville – Business – Oregonlive.com.
Mike: And this is before Logitech’s 500 layoof:
* This year’s job market is starting out on a dismal note. Fremont is being jolted with about 500 job cuts this month, primarily from a high-tech sector that has begun to erode.
Over a span of several weeks from New Year’s Eve through mid-February, companies are cutting 534 jobs from their Fremont operations.
via High-tech job cuts landing in Fremont – ContraCostaTimes.com.
* The Internal Revenue Service will eliminate more than 700 area jobs this year due to consolidation sparked by a rise in the electronic filing of tax returns.
The IRS service center headquartered on Route 133 in Andover will no longer process tax returns after September 2009, according to IRS spokeswoman Peggy Riley.
As a result, 711 full- and part-time positions in Andover, Methuen, Lowell and Fitchburg will be terminated, the majority of the job losses occurring in Andover.
via With e-filing on the rise, IRS to cut 700 jobs – GloucesterTimes.com, Gloucester, MA.
* MAIDEN – Getrag Corp. laid off 141 of its approximately 500 employees Monday.
The manufacturer of General Motors and Chrysler auto parts cited the continuing worldwide economic crisis as the reason for cutting its work force by nearly 28 percent.
via Catawba County axle maker cuts 141 jobs.
* Laird Technologies, which makes electronic components used by a wide range of industries, has seven manufacturing plants in the United States and operations spread around the world. The company said late last year that it is closing or downsizing three of its U.S. manufacturing plants.
via 01/06/2009 – Laird Technologies to close Earth City manufacturing plant – STLtoday.com .
* CLEMSON — A possible cut of 70 jobs at Clemson University’s Public Service & Agriculture division is — for now — a budget exercise, a spokeswoman said on Monday.
The Associated Press reported that Clemson’s PSA division, which includes its extension service, could lose 70 jobs from the research and extension service, if it chose to meet an 8 percent cut in the coming year by reducing staffing.
via Clemson says 70 job cuts just an exercise for now : Local News : Anderson Independent-Mail.
* Boat maker Brunswick Corp. said Tuesday it will cut up to 275 jobs by Friday in order to deal with softening demand.
The recreational boat industry has been squeezed as consumers curb discretionary spending due to the ongoing housing downturn, rising food costs, eroding credit and unemployment concerns.
via Brunswick to cut up to 275 jobs as demand weakens – Forbes.com.
* SAN FRANCISCO—IC vendor Micrel Inc. plans to cut its workforce by 6 percent, the company said Tuesday (Jan. 6) in announcing that it has revised its fourth quarter 2008 revenue and earnings outlook downward.
According to an Associated Press report that cited financial-information service CapitalIQ, Micrel has 923 employees, meaning that the company plans to cut about 55.
via EETimes.com – Micrel to cut jobs after Q4 profit warning.
* Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) — McGraw-Hill Cos., the owner of the Standard & Poor’s credit-rating service, cut 375 more jobs in the fourth quarter as the market slowdown and U.S. recession erode revenue.
via Bloomberg.com: U.S..
* In another cost-cutting effort, BusinessWeek publisher the McGraw-Hill Company today said it eliminated 375 positions company-wide during the fourth quarter. Seventy of those came from its information and media division.
via McGraw-Hill Cut 375 Jobs in Fourth Quarter – M and A and Finance @ FolioMag.com.
* The Milwaukee-area labor market lost 12,400 jobs between November 2007 and November 2008, according to employment figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
via U.S.: Milwaukee loses 12,400 jobs in November – The Business Journal of Milwaukee: .
* After the merger, the company will be known as Markquart Motors and will do business out of the current facility in Lake Hallie. Markquart says about 10 percent of its staff, or fewer than 20 jobs, will be cut.
* Just over 300 trucking jobs near Lancaster are expected to be lost starting on March 1, due to decisions announced Monday by Yellow Transportation and Roadway Express.
Yellow Transportation plans to lay off 207 workers from its facility at 5100 Main St. in East Petersburg, according to a notice filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
* BOZEMAN – The Bozeman Community Food Co-op has laid off 27 people from its staff of 160, citing lower sales and a lack of its normal winter attrition
via Bozeman Food Co-op lays off 27 | Max Media Montana | State News
* BENNINGTON – A Bennington plant that makes auto parts is continuing to reduce its work force.
The latest layoffs at NSK Steering Systems America brings to a total of 200 the number of layoffs since October.
via Company that makes auto parts lays off 71: Rutland Herald Online.
* According to news reports, Titan has laid off some 80 employees at its Freeport, Ill., tire plant, and may be going on a six-weeks-on/two-weeks-off schedule.
via Tirereview – Global Tire News .
* ADOTAS — LiveJournal, a social media, blogging space, announced restructuring (layoffs) today, though no number was given.
via LiveJournal Layoffs » Adotas.
* It’s time to tighten the belt on budget. Follansbee Mayor Anthony Paesaus says they don’t have any other choice with the situation at Wheeling Nisshin.
Layoffs at the hot dip coating mill in Brooke County took effect Tuesday. The plant employs 175 local workers and 90 are impacted by the layoffs. These are the first layoffs at the plant in its 20-year history.
via West Virginia Headline News and Talk Radio.
* More bad news has been announced for Chatham’s Richmond Street truck plant.
– International Truck and Engine Corp. has issued additional layoff notices of up to 199 employees — both plant and office workers.
via London Free Press – Business – Another 199 jobs to go at International Truck.
* Micrel cuts Q4 outlook; announces 6% workforce reduction – update
(RTTNews) – Micrel, Inc. (MCRL: News ), a provider of analog, high bandwidth communications and Ethernet IC solutions, Tuesday lowered its earnings and revenue outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008. The company attributed the shortfall in revenue to lower-than-anticipated OEM turns-fill orders and distribution resales occurred in late November and December. In addition, Micrel said that it is reducing 6% of its workforce to control expenses.
* Renegy Holdings Inc. announced it will restructure and lay off 42 employees to focus on its Snowflake biomass power plant, which serves Arizona Public Service Co. and Salt River Project.
via Renegy announces restructuring, layoffs.
* Specifically, this is the post to which inquiring minds are referring, one that contains a memo that landed in our in-boxes on New Year’s Eve in which New Times founders Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin announced 15-percent pay reductions for “all VVM senior managers and officers, including Larkin and Lacey”; 10-percent pay cuts for all VVM publishers and editors; and the company’s decision to no longer match money put into our 401-K plan.
via Dallas – Unfair Park – Dallas Observer’s Parent Company Announces Pay Cuts and Layoffs.
* In a sign that the magazine bloodletting hadn’t ended in 2008, Forbes Media said today that it laid off another 19 people, this time from the editorial side.
It was the company’s second round of cuts in the past two months. In November, 43 people, mostly from the business side, were axed as Forbes took steps to undo its longstanding practice of operating its print and online businesses separately.
via Forbes Lays Off Another 19 in Second Round of Cuts.
Mike: You know the economy is suffering when even the Berkshires have to take a hit in the yoga arena:
* STOCKBRIDGE — Joining a growing number of the area’s larger employers, the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health has laid off a significant portion of its workforce.
Sixty-one employees — or roughly 15 percent of the staff — have been laid off by Kripalu in recent days. The cuts are part of significant changes the nonprofit’s executives say are essential to maintaining their mission, in light of economic struggles that have drastically reduced business expectations for 2009.
via Kripalu latest to trim work force – Berkshire Eagle Online.
* Alcoa (AA Quote – Cramer on AA – Stock Picks) said Tuesday it’s planning to slash more than 15,000 full-time and contractor positions and further cut output to better cope with the downturn afflicting economies around the world.
By the end of 2009, more than 13,500 employees, or 13% of the company’s global workforce, will be let go. Additionally, 1,700 contractor positions will be eliminated. At the same time, Alcoa has instituted a salary and hiring freeze.
* NEW YORK, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc said on Tuesday it will curtail metal production by about 18 percent and cut some 15,200 jobs to save cash and reduce costs as it seeks to counter the impact of the global economic downturn.
The company said it also has instituted a global salary and hiring freeze, will sell four non-core businesses and reduce 2009 capital expenditures by 50 percent.
via Business Feed Article | Business | guardian.co.uk .
* The Phoenix Coyotes laid off 18 people Monday, a move the team said is in line with cutting costs amid the recession.
The losses were from the team’s business and arena operations, and do not include the hockey unit, said Doug Moss, Coyotes’ president and chief operating officer.
via Phoenix Coyotes lay off 18 in cost-cutting move – Phoenix Business Journal: .
* Aqua Glass in Adamsville will lay off an additional 30 employees from various positions throughout the plant after letting go more than 100 employees last year.
via Aqua Glass in Adamsville to lay off 30 | jacksonsun.com | .
* Dozens of workers are now looking for work after a Franklin County company announced layoffs on Tuesday.
– Topy America let 45 workers go. The company makes steel wheels for the automotive industry.
via Automotive Parts Company Cuts Workforce.
* IDAHO FALLS – We have a follow-up to a story we first told you Monday night about Budget Car Rental.
The company that owns the franchise at the Idaho Falls Regional Airport has filed for bankruptcy.
On Tuesday, we’ve learned that five people have been laid off and the business will be shut down.
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) — Indian exporters expect to cut as much as 10 million jobs by March as the global recession prompts overseas buyers to cancel orders
* TOKYO (AFP) — Japan’s Sanyo Electric Co. plans to cut up to 1,000 jobs to revamp its struggling businesses before being bought by Panasonic Corp., a press report said Tuesday.
Sanyo Electric is considering shedding about 500 of its 20,000 regular employees in Japan, mainly in the semiconductor division, by the end of March, the Nikkei business daily reported.
via AFP: Japan’s Sanyo to cut up to 1,000 jobs: report.
* LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) – The euro zone private sector services economy shrank sharply in December and firms cut more jobs than first estimated, a survey showed, pointing to a deep recession lasting for at least a good part of the year.
With inflationary pressures evaporating and no sign that businesses — now cutting payrolls at a rapid pace — are sensing a pick-up any time soon, the data reinforces expectations the European Central Bank is likely to cut interest rates to new lows.
via Euro zone services PMI at record low, firms slash jobs – Forbes.com.
* London, UK (AHN) – The services purchasing managers index of the U.K. surprisingly improved in December to 40.2 compared to a market expectation for a decline to 39.2, according to a data.
But the country’s service sector activity contracted at a near-record pace last month, a report showed.
via U.K. December Services PMI Unexpectedly Improve | AHN | January 6, 2009.
* A COLLAPSE of Jaguar Land Rover would put around 75,000 jobs at risk and cost the British taxpayer up to £2 billion, a top Midland business expert warned.
Professor David Bailey, director of Birmingham Business School, said the consequences of Government inaction over JLR would be “huge” as pressure grows for a New Year £1 billion state-sanctioned loan.
via 75,000 jobs risk if Jaguar collapses – Coventry Telegraph.
* The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) yesterday reported that at least 1,000 more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have lost their jobs in Taiwan and other countries due to the global financial crisis.
via 1,000 more OFWs laid off in Taiwan | Home >> Pinoy Abroad >> Asia .
* LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) – British retailer Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) is set to cut more than 1,000 jobs in stores, its head office and support functions following disastrous Christmas trading, The Times web-site reported on Monday.
via Marks & Spencer to cut over 1,000 job losses-paper | Industries | Consumer Goods & Retail | Reuters .
* LONDON (Reuters) – Consumer morale sank lower in December as worries about job losses resulting from the economic downturn soured the Christmas spirit.
The Nationwide Building Society said its consumer confidence index fell four points to 47 last month — the lowest since the survey began in 2004.
via Consumer morale worsens in December – Investing | More commentary – MSN Money UK.
* TOKYO, Jan. 6 (PNA/Kyodo) — Domestic sales of new vehicles, excluding minivehicles, fell to a 34-year low of 3,212,342 units in 2008 — nearly half of the peak level in 1990 — as worsening economic conditions depressed consumer demand, an industry body said Monday.
The sales figure — the lowest recorded since 1974 in the aftermath of the first oil shock — represents a 6.5 percent year-on-year decline and the fifth consecutive yearly fall, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said.
* WASHINGTON (CNN) — Despite a bleak economic environment featuring wide-ranging layoffs and rising unemployment, the nation’s premier law enforcement agency is touting “one of the largest hiring blitzes in our 100-year history.”
The FBI is about to embark on its biggest hiring spree since immediately after the September 11, 2001.
The FBI posted openings for 850 special agents and more than 2,100 professional support personnel. Officials say it’s the largest FBI job posting since immediately after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
* More than 12,000 jobs will soon open up at the MGM Mirage’s new CityCenter on the Las Vegas Strip.
via KTVN Channel 2 – Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video – 12,000+ Jobs to Open Up at CityCenter in Las Vegas.
* Having trouble finding a job in, say, New York City or South Florida? You might give Madison, Wis., a try. It’s got an unusually healthy outlook for job growth and a strikingly low unemployment rate–3.5% in October, when the national rate was 6.5%.
via Ten Cities For Job Growth In 2009 – Forbes.com.
* Here’s a look at 13 cutting-edge careers, viable now and poised for future growth. They stem from megatrends like globalization, digitization, and the wave of environmentalism sweeping the world.
Mike: There were a number of shockers today, but the Alcoa news was at the top of the list, although the people laid off from Brunswick, Logitech, and R.L. Stowe would likely disagree. More to come tomorrow, but let’s end the listing night with a little humor.……………..
Jeff Stahler - Jan 6
