Mike: Good weekend to all. First let me start with the news that The Layoff List will be changing locations. Over the next month I am going to transition from http://layofflist.wordpress.com/ to http://www.layofflist.org/. The reasons for the move:
- Better performance: http://www.layofflist.org/ will load more quickly on your PC or other device.
- Easier to read: http://www.layofflist.org/ is designed to be easier on the eyes and that should benefit those who enjoy reading an entire post.
- More control: At http://www.layofflist.org/, I’ll be able to better control site content and appearance, which allows me to add features that aren’t made available at http://layofflist.wordpress.com/.
These are how I hope the transition occurs:
- I’ll keep both sites active until http://www.layofflist.org/ is fully functional and ready for exclusive viewing.
- http://www.layofflist.org/ will be updated twice a day until it becomes the exclusive The Layoff List location.
- Eventually, I’ll employ the WordPress redirecting service to redirect readers from http://layofflist.wordpress.com/ to http://www.layofflist.org/.
So I ask you, the reader of The Layoff List, to:
- Take a look at http://www.layofflist.org/.
- Send along any suggestion that you may have that would make visiting The Layoff List a more enjoyable experience.
- Place your recommendations/suggestions in the comments area or send me a note at Mike@layofflist.org.
Thanks.
Mike: It was a tumultous week for job loss announcements and economic reports.
- Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors/News
General Economic News
Municipal News
US and some Canada Layoff News
International News
Hiring News
– Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors & News –
* Something’s going on at Apple. Normally a leak-proof ship, the S.S. Steve Jobs has been taking on rumors of layoffs. The latest: Cuts in Mac hardware and software units, says a tipster:
There are layoffs at Apple today. Lots of security around. Looks like Mac hardware and pro applications folks are being impacted. Don’t have any idea of numbers….but it seems like a lot.
via Rumormonger: More Job Cuts at Apple?.
* Of the 10 U.S.-based software and hardware companies that have the largest market valuations, only Apple and Qualcomm have not made job cuts.
Mike: The report below can be looked at as encouraging, but it may not explain why layoffs continue to spike. Here are my humble and anecdotal reasons why the larger companies may be cutting back on layoff announcements, while the unemployment rate continues to climb.
- Company earnings releases have slowed during the past few weeks, which means companies aren’t forced to present layoff plans to investors in order to show that they are cutting costs to boost profits. Once earnings season returns, the larger layoff announcements may also return.
- Smaller companies that derive their work from the larger companies are laying off more workers in response to less work coming from the larger companies. As an example: GM cuts 10,000 jobs in January, but those effects aren’t felt in employment numbers at smaller companies until a month or so later when 100 smaller companies have to lay off 50 each. Smaller companies make up a greater percentage of workers than large companies.
- Larger companies may be holding back on layoff announcements until they determine how their profits will be affected by government programs, such as the stimulus package.
* It has been another subdued week for the Forbes.com Layoff Tracker, even as the Labor Department released more bleak employment numbers. We now know that more than 650,000 nonagricultural jobs were lost in February, pushing unemployment up to 8.1%. Also, Labor revised its numbers for December and January to add 160,000 more job losses in those months.
Here, highlights of the week’s activity recorded by the Forbes.com Layoff Tracker, which counts the layoffs at all the nation’s 500 largest corporations.
The Layoff Tracker paints a more attractive picture than the government’s stats. Job cut announcements within the tracker’s universe of companies have virtually ceased, at least for now. This week only five of the 500 businesses announced cuts, and they added up to only about 4,000 jobs. That makes it by far the quietest week so far this year.
via The Weekly Layoff Report: An Eerie Stillness – Forbes.com.
Mike: For those who want to read the BLS EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: FEBRUARY 2009, it’s available in PDF at:http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf . But here is the less than cheery summary:
* Nonfarm payroll employment continued to fall sharply in February (-651,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 7.6 to 8.1 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Payroll employment has declined by 2.6 million in the past 4 months. In February, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major industry sectors.
Mike: Losing a job is difficult for anyone, but it has to be even more difficult for those who live in areas that thought they would be immune to the problem. I recall reading a number of TX articles indicating they would not feel the impacts of unemployment that other areas would because of the energy sector cushioning job losses and being in a state that was business friendly tax wise. While TX may not see the same job loss destruction as MI, it will nonetheless feel its affects, and for TX to ignore that reality is not in their best interests.
* FORT WORTH – Texas’ system for assisting people out of work is bursting at the seams and running low on money.
Unemployment insurance claims specialist Gloria Hardy, taking a call at the Texas Workforce Commission’s North Texas Tele-Center in Fort Worth, does her best to stay patient with people seeking benefits. ‘They’ve gone through something that’s very traumatic,’ she said. The average wait time for callers to the Fort Worth center is 20 minutes, an improvement reflecting added staff.
As the economy worsens, about 26,000 Texans are filing new unemployment insurance claims each week – more than double the volume of a year ago, rapidly depleting the state’s $1 billion fund.
And last week, almost 100,000 people got through to the Texas Workforce Commission’s four call centers, which are scrambling to add workers. Even supervisors help man the phones, but the workers are busier than ever.
* After last week’s column on the insurance subsidy included in President Obama’s stimulus package, we received quite a lot of mail asking more questions. That’s understandable. The details are complicated.
via More about the COBRA subsidy – Los Angeles Times.
Rob Rogers - Mar 7
* MASSILON, Ohio (AP) — Evidence of the slumping economy is stacking up at an Ohio school which has nearly 700 applications for one open janitorial job.
via The Associated Press: Ohio school gets 700 applicants for janitorial job.
* Out of work, with bills piling high, Bruce Keane perched on the edge of the sofa in his Port Orange home, gently folded his hands, stared at the floor between his feet and slowly shook his head.
“It’s frustrating,” said the 48-year-old who was laid off from Crane Cams in February, along with about 200 others. “I don’t know how I am going to pay my bills. We just moved into this house eight months ago.”
Keane raised his gaze, emotion clouding his face. He turned to his wife, Nancy, who joined him on the couch. She deftly picked up the story.
“Everyone who worked at Crane is in a bind,” she said. “People went to the plant on Tuesday to get their checks — after the last ones bounced — and they are still taking out insurance premiums, but we don’t have any insurance coverage any more. We have to pay for our own prescriptions.”
* PONTIAC –The Pontiac School District is laying off all its employees effective June 30 and will call them back as needed next school year, under a proposal by the superintendent.
In a letter Interim Superintendent Linda Paramore sent to employees, workers will be recalled based on seniority, certification and qualifications. Human Resources and the curriculum department will initiate the recall process with assistance of the president of the Pontiac Education Association .
* Woonsocket, Rhode Island took another step toward compromising the safety of citizens and firefighters when the city delivered 11 layoff notices to the local.
* About 1,000 workers in Stanford Financial Group’s U.S. offices — 85 percent of the company’s U.S. employees — lost their jobs Friday.
The court-appointed receiver in control of the company’s assets, Dallas lawyer Ralph Janvey, issued a statement saying he had concluded that keeping them on the job wasn’t in the interest of preserving whatever money is left because there are “insufficient resources” to keep paying the workers.
via 1,000 of Stanford Financial’s U.S. workers get the ax | Business | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.
* HOUSTON (AP) — About 1,000 people working around the nation for the troubled Stanford Financial Group founded by Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford were laid off Friday by order of the court-appointed receiver in the investment firm’s case.
via The Associated Press: Employees of troubled investment firm laid off.
* Freightliner announced plans today for another hefty layoff of employees at its truck manufacturing plant in Cleveland.
The company said it would lay off 420 workers effective May 8, cutting dramatically into the remaining first-shift workforce. Union officials and employees received notification today.
An additional 80 employees at Freightliner’s Gastonia Components and Logistics Plant also will be displaced May 8.
via SalisburyPost.com – Breaking – Freightliner confirms more layoffs in Cleveland .
* A Sprint Nextel Corp. representative told KMBC that the layoffs are part of the 8,000 job cuts announced on Jan. 26.
* Blood substitute developer Northfield Laboratories Inc. has cut 13 jobs and will close its corporate headquarters in Evanston as the biotech firm tries to conserve cash.
via Northfield Laboratories cuts 13 jobs, to close headquarters — chicagotribune.com.
* The closing, which eliminated about 30 jobs, comes as Mitsubishi is consolidating its design work at its corporate headquarters in Tokyo. A Mitsubishi design center in Germany will remain open, but with a greatly reduced staff.
via Mitsubishi Motors shuts vehicle design center in Cypress – Los Angeles Times.
* LOS ANGELES, March 5 (Reuters) – Mall department store Dillard’s Inc (DDS.N) posted a surprising loss after charges on Thursday, and said it has identified five underperforming stores to close this year.
via UPDATE 1-Dillard’s posts surprise loss, to close 5 stores | Markets | Markets News | Reuters .
* The retailer said it would now close a total of 163 stores by the end of fiscal 2010. Previously, it said it would close 117 stores.
via AnnTaylor expands store closure program – Forbes.com.
* EASTON, Md. — Cadmus Communications Corp., is closing its Easton plant next month after 60 years in the town.
Mayor Bob Willey says a letter to town officials received Tuesday did not explain why the plant, which employs about 200 people, would close on April 25.
via Cadmus to close plant in Maryland next month | Richmond Times-Dispatch.
* Five other full-time employees and one part-time employee at the company’s four St. Louis stations also lost their jobs as Emmis cut its work force by 7.5 percent.
via 03/07/2009 – Mark Klose, 7 others lose jobs at 4 St. Louis radio stations – STLtoday.com .
* Schneider Electric announced today that it is laying off 67 hourly employees at the Square D manufacturing facility on Route B.
via Local plant to lay off 67 employees | The Columbia Daily Tribune – Columbia, MO.
* Carlisle Power Transmission Products Inc. announced in a news release today that it will lay off 56 employees at the Springfield plant, effective Wednesday.
via 56 laid off at Carlisle Transmission | News-Leader.com | Springfield News-Leader.
* Atlanta-based King & Spalding has just announced that it is laying off a total of 122 people: 37 associates and counsel and 85 staff.
via King & Spalding Cuts 37 Lawyers, 85 Staff | ABA Journal – Law News Now.
* ASHTABULA — RTS Cos., which Thursday received a tax abatement for a $1.3 million expansion at its Austinburg facility, recently reduced its workforce by a dozen workers.
via The Star Beacon; Ashtabula, Ohio – Abated company recently laid off workers.
* SOUTH BURLINGTON — Lane Press, the printer for Vermont Life and the University of Vermont’s alumni magazine, announced Friday it laid off 29 employees earlier this week.
via Lane Press lays off 29 workers | burlingtonfreepress.com | The Burlington Free Press.
* American Showa has laid off 264 full-time workers since December, including 37 in the past week.
via American Showa lays off 37.
* Facing declining endowments and donations, the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland laid off 25 people Thursday and announced plans to trim $600,000 from its operating expenses.
via Jewish Community Federation lays off 25, faces nearly $3 million shortfall – Metro – cleveland.com.
* The ripple effect from the slowdown in the automotive industry is being felt in Mount Airy, where 14 employees were laid off Friday by United Plastics Corp.
via Mount Airy News – Another local company lays off workers.
* Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld laid off 47 associates and 57 paralegals and staff today, a source within the firm has confirmed.
via The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times : Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to Cut 47 Associates, 57 Staff.
* Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., a packaging product company in New Hartford, has laid off 22 people – 18 hourly employees and four salaried workers, a company spokesman said Friday.
via Smurfit-Stone lays off 22 – Utica, NY – The Observer-Dispatch.
* For the first time in company history, Duncan Aviation will be laying off employees, with some cuts likely coming at its Battle Creek plant.
This week, local employees at Duncan Aviation received notification the company would soon implement a “work force reduction plan.” Employees were not informed who would be affected, only that reductions would soon be announced.
Duncan is Battle Creek’s 12th-largest employer, with approximately 600 employees at its facility at 15745 S. Airport Road.
via Duncan facing job cuts | battlecreekenquirer.com | The Enquirer.
* Caterpillar, which has manufacturing plants in Fargo and West Fargo, is cutting costs through temporary factory shutdowns, voluntary and involuntary layoffs and temporary layoffs.
The company will not provide location-specific information, but the actions affect Caterpillar operations in every region of the world, including North Dakota, Jim Dugan, Caterpillar’s chief corporate spokesman, said in an e-mail.
via Local Caterpillar plants could face shutdowns, layoffs | INFORUM | Fargo, ND .
* ITW-CIP of Waterbury, formerly known as Anchor Stampings, will close in July due to the ongoing downturn in the automobile industry, the company’s manager said Friday.
The company’s parent, Illinois Tool Works Inc. of Glenview, Ill., announced the closing to ITW-CIP’s 40 employees Thursday at the company’s plant at 130 Huntingdon Ave., said Anthony Pascariello, the plant manager.
via ITW-CIP in Waterbury to close by July, 40 losing their jobs The Republican-American .
* BERLIN (AFP) — Troubled German carmaker Opel is threatening to close three of its plants in Europe and sack 11,000 people, one fifth of its workforce, as it seeks billions of euros in state aid, reports said Saturday.
* The German weekly Der Spiegel reports that car manufacturer Opel is planning to close three factories at a cost of 11,000 jobs. The factories are said to be the Bochum and Eisenach plants in Germany and the Antwerp plant in Belgium. The closures would save nearly 950 million in personnel costs.
* Archant Norfolk, which publishes the Eastern Daily Press and Evening News amongst others, has announced 54 editorial redundancies as part of ongoing plans to integrate news operations at the division.
via Editorial redundancies at Archant Norfolk: 54 go from 179 | Journalism.co.uk Editors’ Blog.
* LONDON: Administrators for Principles Retail Ltd. said Saturday they had been unable to find a buyer for the British womenswear chain, putting as many as 2,300 jobs at risk.
via Fashion retailer Principles to close 66 stores – International Herald Tribune.
* The AA has confirmed that 25 jobs will be made redundant from its publishing business, 12% of its staff.
via AA cuts 25 publishing jobs | theBookseller.com.
* A 60-year-old piece of Merthyr’s proud industrial heritage will close for good this week.
Workers at the town’s iconic Hoover factory were told on Friday they were out of a job.
The company said their 90-day consultation period had ended and manufacture in Merthyr will cease on March 14.
via WalesOnline – News – Wales News – End of Hoover in Merthyr likened to the mines closing.
Mike: I was asked if I would post the following information regarding positions that need to be filled quickly. I’m still looking to see how to post the Word documents, but if you want further information now, contact Mr. Walia at bkwalia@emergentindia.in . Take a look and best of luck :
As of now, I will not be able to disclose the name of the company because of confidentiality agreement signed with the company, until the Resume of desired applicants are short listed by the company for further round of assessment.
We are looking for the following profiles, given as under:
-
Asst General Manager (exterior & interior Design) / Min 12yrs exp / Exp in styling design of Automotive Exterior & Interior from creating concepts, CAD & Clay Modelling etc
-
Safety Engineer / Min 8yrs exp / Exp in Automotive Component & Crash Safety related testing & development, Compliance to regulatory req, Dummy Calibration, Crash Instrumentation etc
-
Clay Modeler / Min 15yrs exp / Should have aesthetic sense like sculptor with engineering logic, strong exp in Clay Modeling & managing activities related to Clay Models
JDs for the said positions are attached with the mail, for your kind perusal. Here, I would like to clarify, that we do not charge any service fees/ registration fees/ any other fees from candidates, whether successful or unsuccessful.
You can write to me at bkwalia@emergentindia.in
These openings are very critical, hence if anyone is interested would suggest an early revert.
Regards
B.K. Walia
Managing Partner
EMERGENT INDIA
* That is why this business is doing so well. They are looking to hire about 200 more employees by the end of this year. That doubles the amount they have now. “We have a very, very, very good workforce and now is the time to find good people,” said Brenan. Diamond Wire Technology operates 24/7 and it takes at least 1 person to operate 6 of the machines. When there are 78 machines, they estimate 50 people will be needed per shift, with 5 shifts per day.
Mike: More later in the weekend…………
Jeff Stahler - Mar 7
Tags: COBRA, cut jobs, economic, employment, factory closing, firing, hiring, job loss, jobs cut, laid off, layoffs, plant closing, positions eliminated, redundancies, staff cuts, unemployment, workforce reduction
