Mike: Good day to all and thanks for visiting The Layoff List. It was a brutal day in the job loss department with the auto manufacturing and dealerships announcements hitting especially hard again. HP was a dim light on the tech job map, but what I’m seeing, sadly, is that municipal jobs are starting to get cut in a big way. I can’t seem to keep up to those layoff announcements.
Tomorrow brings us the weekly Jobless Claims report as well as a couple other economic reports that I’ll list tomorrow. I’m not much of a gambler, but if I was to guess at tomorrow’s report, I would put a slight wager on the jobless numbers coming in worse than expected. This is merely based on anecdotal information because I’ve been working hard trying to keep up with the the layoff announcements over the past week. I hope I’m wrong and the jobless numbers show some improvement, but I’ll put my guess at 651,000. Till tomorrow…………….
Today we received another sign of the health of the housing market and there’s good and bad to report. Refinance seems to be the the main driver of this improved number, but mortgage applications are actually down and this is prime home buying and selling season. Refinancing helps many save some well needed cash on a monthly basis, which can be spent, or saved for a rainy day. Refinancing also indicates that people are staying at their homes and not moving up the housing ladder, which was so prevalent during bubble days. But when less mortgage applications are being signed at peak time, that’s not a good sign for a quick housing or construction jobs recovery.
– Applications were up 42% for the week ended May 15, compared with the same week a year ago. The MBA survey covers about half of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.
Refinance applications rose an unadjusted 4.5% last week, compared with the previous week. Applications for mortgages to purchase a home fell a seasonally adjusted 4.4%.
The four-week moving average for all mortgages was down 6.4%.
via Mortgage applications rose 2.3% last week: MBA – MarketWatch.
Mike: Wow, finally an economist that can connect economic recovery to jobs!
– Recovery of the nation’s housing markets depends on jobs, the head of the U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association said in Seattle on Tuesday evening.
“People can’t buy houses and stay in houses unless they have jobs,” John Courson, the association’s president and chief executive, said at a Seattle Mortgage Bankers Association dinner.
Now a comment on the credit card legislation passed by the Senate yesterday. It appears that credit card companies will have to start giving people adequate notice before making dramatic changes and the consumer benefits from some of these changes. Yet egregious credit card interest rates are still allowed. I find it amazing that credit card companies – banks – can borrow from YOUR Federal Reserve at near 0% interest and then demand in some cases 30% interest rates. So, not only are you giving your tax money to keep these banks in business, they then turn around and charge you sky-high interest. The Senate, with pressure from all their banking cronies, stopped short of enacting comprehensive reform, but at least some of the more deplorable credit card company habits have been addressed. Below are some highlights:
– Here are the major elements of Senate credit-card bill, just passed by the Senate and likely to be adopted by House.
via Changing Credit: Highlights of the Senate Credit-Card Bill – Washington Wire – WSJ.
– Consumers scored a major victory on Tuesday as the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill that restricts unfair credit card practices. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act passed by a 90-5 margin. The bill comes on the heels of similar legislation, known as the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights, that was approved by the House on April 30 in 357 to 70 vote.
- Another 6,400 workers to lose jobs at HP
- Detroit Public Schools to cut about 900 jobs
- Chrysler cutting shift; 992 to lose jobs
- Obama’s Plan offers (600,000) new federal jobs
- Oilsands builder Flint lays off 1,100 workers
- GM to slash Canadian dealerships by almost half
- At least 60 GM dealers in Quebec to shut down
- Tampa’s WellCare Health Plans to cut 360 jobs
- Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors/News
General Economic News
Government Layoff News
US and some Canada Layoff News
International Layoff News
Hiring News and News You Can Use
– Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors & News –
– IBM Corp. shelled out more than $2 million on lobbying in the first quarter, according to a recent disclosure report, sustaining its heavy investment in Washington at a time when government-funded technology projects are getting a higher profile.
– ARMONK, N.Y., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has signed a seven-year, $11.3 million business process outsourcing services agreement with Lam Research Corporation, a major supplier of semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment and services.
via IBM Announces Seven-Year Outsourcing Agreement With Lam Research .
– Even before Google’s official grand opening in Council Bluffs, city officials and residents were lauding the search engine’s apparent efforts to be part of the community.
MBA Purchase Applications
![[Report]](http://bloomberg.econoday.com/images/bloomberg/byreport_butt_new.gif)
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– NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) – U.S. mortgage applications rose last week, reflecting an increase in demand for home refinancing loans as interest rates trekked lower, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.
However, demand for home purchase loans, an indicator of home sales, dropped. The decrease may help gauge how the hard-hit U.S. housing market is faring this spring, the peak home buying season.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications , which includes both purchase and refinance loans, for the week ended May 15 increased 2.3 percent to 915.9.
via US mortgage applications up as interest rates drop | Markets | Markets News | Reuters .
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Mike: It’s good to see that some workers are steeping into the streets to protest the massive job losses in the auto industry. I applaud their efforts and I hope they are successful in their attempts. At least they are trying to get some congressional attention, but their campaign contribution pockets aren’t deep enough to have that chummy relationship afforded to executives and corporate lobbyists.
– Hundreds of union workers at the plant and their families and friends took to the streets with signs saying “Invest in America,” and “Kenosha Yes, Mexico No.”
– TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s economy contracted at the fastest pace since 1955 as exports plunged, companies slashed production and families spent less.
Japan’s gross domestic product, or the total value of the nation’s goods and services, shrank at an annual pace of 15.2 percent in the January-March period, the government said Wednesday
via Japan economy shrank at record pace in 1st quarter – Yahoo! Finance.
Stuart Carlson - May 20
– DETROIT – The emergency financial manager of Detroit’s schools plans to cut more than 900 of the district’s employees and take other cost-cutting measures to help eliminate a deficit of more than $300 million.
via Detroit Public Schools to cut about 900 jobs — chicagotribune.com.
– The North Texas Tollway Authority said Tuesday it will be cutting 25 staff members, effective July 1, as part of the organization’s ongoing plan to transition the President George Bush Turnpike into an all-electronic collection tollway.
via NTTA to cut 25 jobs – Dallas Business Journal: .
– RALEIGH — City Manager Russell Allen proposed Tuesday that Raleigh eliminate 85 vacant positions, cut funding for the arts and the homeless and reduce operating hours and maintenance at parks, pools and other facilities to close a projected $22 million budget shortfall.
via Raleigh may eliminate 85 unfilled jobs – Local & State – News & Observer.
– The Pickens County School District has eliminated more than 100 jobs, but hopes to place many of those workers in new positions.
via Pickens School District Eliminates 110 Positions | WSPA.
– Economic strain on Butte’s public school district budget has led to layoffs for 40 school teachers.
via 40 teachers laid off in Butte – Montana’s News Station – Fair. Accurate. To the Point. –.
– STAMFORD — With the conclusion of this year’s budget deliberations Monday night, layoffs for Stamford police officers are still a very real possibility.
via Stamford News – The Stamford Times.
– The Monterey County Board of Supervisors approved tentative layoffs for 13 employees Tuesday at a contentious meeting that highlighted disputes between the administration and the union that represents most employees.
via Monterey County approves more layoffs | thecalifornian.com | The Salinas Californian.
– The council unanimously approved a restructuring plan Tuesday that eliminates six positions from the city staff, including three high-level management posts. Officials say the eliminations, which are effective today, are needed to help offset an estimated $2 million shortfall in next year’s budget.
– Two sources yesterday told CP that the Streets Department, which oversees the city’s recycling program, had given notice on Friday to four of the six workers who run the city’s recycling program.
– Onslow County government has cut more than 70 positions and discontinued two of its programs in an effort to decrease spending.
via Onslow County cuts 71 positions | county, onslow, release – News – Jacksonville Daily News
– As educational budget cuts remain uncertain at the legislative level, the Wickenburg School District recently reduced 17 staff, both certified (teachers) and classified (school staff), in a method referred to as “RIF” – or “reduction in force.”
– US and some Canada Layoff News –
– SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hewlett-Packard Co. said Tuesday it plans to cut 6,400 more workers — or 2 percent of the company’s total work force. The cuts are on top of the 24,600 layoffs HP is doing as part of its huge acquisition of technology services provider Electronic Data Systems, and will come from its product businesses.
Palo Alto-based HP, whose products include PCs, printers, computer servers and toner cartridges, announced the additional cuts Tuesday in a conference call with analysts to discuss the company’s fiscal second-quarter results.
via The Associated Press: Another 6,400 workers to lose jobs at HP.
– Chrysler LLC, the struggling automaker reorganizing in bankruptcy, will lay off 992 workers from its Belvidere assembly plant and convert the plant to a one-shift operation.
via Chrysler cutting shift; 992 to lose jobs – Rockford, IL – Rockford Register Star.
-Update: In another sign of the recession’s broad reach, Medtronic announced Tuesday that it will eliminate 1,500 to 1,800 jobs worldwide, including 600 in Minnesota.
via Medtronic to cut 600 jobs from state rolls.
– CALGARY – The slowdown in the oilpatch has led Flint Energy Services to lay off 1,100 workers.
At the oilsands construction company’s annual general meeting in Calgary on Tuesday, president and chief executive Bill Lingard confirmed the layoffs, which include 1,000 hourly staff members and 100 salaried office workers.
– DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — The recent slowdown in mining activity in northeastern Minnesota has prompted a foundry to lay off nearly 40 percent of its employees in Duluth.
– Don Newton, vice president of manufacturing, would not say how many people were laid off, but called it “a small work force adjustment,” in a company release.
– Hawker Beechcraft said Tuesday that it will cut about 150 jobs on Friday.
via Hawker Beechcraft shaves 150 jobs | Aviation | Wichita Eagle.
– Renovation work at the Columbus Museum of Art will result in 31 staff layoffs in the fall.
via The Columbus Dispatch : 31 to lose jobs with renovation .
– Cumberland River Coal parent company, St. Louis-based Arch Coal, cited an expected decrease in sales volume for the cuts.
via E.Ky. coal mine cuts 85 jobs, KY | Product Design and Development .
– The Advocate will lay off 49 employees on Thursday, Publisher David Manship said Tuesday.
via 2theadvocate.com | Business | The Advocate to lay off 49 — Baton Rouge, LA.
– They’re calling it a realignment, but won’t say how many workers will be laid off. The call center accounts for about 20 percent of its employees in Roanoke County.
– Takata Seat Belts Inc., a division of Japan’s largest maker of vehicle safety equipment, has laid off about 7 percent of its workers at its San Antonio facility as demand from carmakers plummets, a company official said Tuesday.
via Takata Seat Belts lays off 7% in S.A..
– WATSONVILLE — Watsonville Community Hospital laid off 39 workers Monday in a move designed to cut costs in a tough economic climate.
via Watsonville hospital lays off 5 percent of work force – San Jose Mercury News.
– Woodward Governor on Tuesday laid off several workers in its engine systems segment, citing a declining demand amid the global recession.
via Woodward Governor lays off 57 | coloradoan.com | The Coloradoan,.
– Penrose-St. Francis Health Services and Memorial Health System have laid off a total of 14 people in recent months as they’ve reorganized certain operations.
– Truck-parts supplier Findlay Industries Inc. continues to seek a buyer but plans this summer to shut down a number of Ohio operations and cut 215 positions.
via 215 Ohio jobs on the hook as Findlay Industries seeks buyer – Business First of Columbus: .
– The company also said it expects to close down two facilities and reduce capacity at its third plant, resulting in an additional 10 percent job cuts.
via UPDATE 2-Columbus McKinnon sees revenue drop in ’10; to cut jobs | Markets | Markets News | Reuters .
– BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – Capital One Bank has notified 180 employees in Baton Rouge that their jobs will be eliminated in the coming months.
via Capital One to slice 180 Baton Rouge jobs – WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |.
– As individual donations and corporate sponsorship revenue continue to fall short, the public television stations WNET (Channel 13) and WLIW (Channel 21) said Wednesday that they planned to reduce their staffs by an additional total of 50 people.
via More Layoffs at WNET and WLIW – ArtsBeat Blog – NYTimes.com.
– ENDICOTT – Endicott Interconnect Technologies is laying off at least 180 people, most of them new hires, according to Alliance@IBM.
via Widespread EIT layoffs reported | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin.
– The company aims to reduce the number of GM dealerships in Canada by about 42 percent, or from 705 dealerships to between 395 and 425, by 2010, GM said last month.
– Thousands of Canadian jobs are in jeopardy Wednesday as General Motors shuts down 264 auto dealers across Canada, including dozens in Quebec.
– WellCare Health Plans Inc. will cut 360 jobs, about 9 percent of its work force, as the Tampa managed-care company tries to reduce certain lines of business.
via Tampa’s WellCare Health Plans to cut 360 jobs – St. Petersburg Times
– MANSFIELD — Kerry Inc. will shutter its facility in Mansfield on July 31, putting 47 employees out of work.
Mayor Don Culliver announced Tuesday he received a notification letter from the president of Kerry Beverage North America, under the federal requirements of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
via Kerry closing in Mansfield = 47 lost jobs | mansfieldnewsjournal.com | Mansfield News Journal.
– Three Salt Lake Tribune positions were eliminated Wednesday in a newsroom restructuring.
via Three Tribune employees lose jobs in restructuring – Salt Lake Tribune.
– The layoffs will impact a total of 47 of the port’s 256 employees at all levels of the organization, including maintenance and clerical workers who are represented by the ILWU, administrative employees in nearly every department, and five department heads.
via The Cunningham Report – Quickie: Port of Tacoma To Lay Off Nearly 20 Percent Of Workforce.
– Lawrence Paper Co. laid off eight employees this week, as orders continue to slow for the company’s cardboard boxes and other packaging products.
via Lawrence Paper Co. lays off eight more workers / LJWorld.com.
– Lufkin Industries laid off 47 employees on Tuesday, a company spokesman said.
The layoff included hourly and salaried workers, and was a result of reduced levels of business in the Oilfield Division, said Vice President Paul Perez.
via Lufkin Industries lays off 47.
– The Carmeuse Lime & Stone facility near Butler laid off 34 workers at the beginning of April and cut nine more this month, said Philip Johnson, senior vice president of sales and marketing.
via Pendleton limestone facility lays off 43 – Daily Business Report – Kentucky.com.
– The company laid off another 147 workers, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It also closed the Denny’s Restaurant, and go-kart and miniature golf facilities at the property 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas on Interstate 15.
via Black Gaming lays off more workers in Mesquite – Breaking News – ReviewJournal.com.
– The Reed Smith law firm said it will cut salaries for all U.S. associates by 10 percent across the board, effective July 1.
via Reed Smith cutting associates’ salaries 10% – Philadelphia Business Journal: .
– The company also said that it has undertaken a number of “major cost reduction initiatives, including a rolling workforce reduction of approximately 158 employees in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 and 16 employees in April 2009.
via GSI discloses layoffs, SEC investigation – Daily Business Update – The Boston Globe.
– Barge manufacturer Trinity Marine Products will lay off 190 workers in Brusly, the company’s Dallas headquarters confirmed.
via 2theadvocate.com | News | Trinity Marine announces layoffs — Baton Rouge, LA.
– Employment year-over-year at low-cost air carriers rose in April for the first time in more than 1-1/2 years, though Frontier Airlines bucked that trend by reducing staff 14.8 percent since 2008, according to a report released Wednesday.
via Frontier cuts staff while other low-cost airlines boost theirs – Denver Business Journal: .
– The Paris-based telecom supplier now has fewer than 100 employees in Petaluma, where it designs equipment for broadband networks.
via Alcatel cuts 15 percent of Petaluma staff | PressDemocrat.com | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA.
– NewSmith Capital Partners, one of the hedge fund firms to appear before a parliamentary committee investigating the UK banking crisis in January, has lost six staff as it cuts costs in a tough period for the industry.
via Six exit hedge fund firm NewSmith in cost cuts | Deals | Hedge Funds | Reuters .
– The 936-member association has eliminated three of eight staff positions, said Avaly Mobbs, executive director, on Tuesday.
– May 20 (Bloomberg) — Nippon Sheet Glass Co., which bought Pilkington Plc in 2006, forecast a wider loss and a sales decline for its current year, and said it will cut 6,700 jobs by the end of March next year.
– Hertie, the German department-store chain that filed for insolvency protection last year, failed with a survival plan aimed at saving 2,600 jobs, Deutsche Presse Agentur reported today, citing a spokesman for an investor group which had sought to take over the outlets.
via Hertie Survival Plan Fails, Jeopardizing 2,600 Jobs, DPA Says – Bloomberg.com.
Update: – Air France-KLM is expecting to shed 3,000 jobs in its current financial year, in a bid to further cut costs.
– Optos cut 60 jobs, or 20 percent of its workforce, in March in a restructuring to save $5 million to $10 million annually, Chief Executive Roy Davis said.
via UPDATE 2-Optos posts H1 pretax loss from cont ops, cuts jobs | Markets | Markets News | Reuters .
– ACC Bank is to cut 200 jobs and close 16 branches around the country and has blamed the global financial crisis, the sharp deterioration in the Irish economy and collapse of the property market for the move.
via ACC to cut 200 jobs, close branches – The Irish Times – Wed, May 20, 2009.
– Claverton Down-based Wessex Water today announced plans to reduce its 2,500-strong workforce by up to 200 by the end of the year.
via wessex water jobs losses Bath.
– The bank told employees that 700 posts will be cut around the UK in areas like property and IT. The news provided the first detail of where the axe will fall under a programme announced last month to shed 4500 jobs in the manufacturing unit over two years.
via Edinburgh Likely To Bear Brunt Of 700 RBS Job Cuts (from The Herald ).
– Rockdale Beef at Yanco in southern New South Wales has announced it will cut up to 150 jobs.
via Rockdale Beef to shed 150 jobs – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).
– Two months after employees at Mark Wilkinson Furniture and Smallbone of Devizes thought their jobs had been saved the new owner of the companies has announced that there will be up to 100 redundancies.
– For the third time in six months, Television Broadcasts Ltd (0511) has wielded the ax, with another 110 employees being told to join the growing queue of unemployed
via The Standard – Hong Kong’s First FREE English Newspaper.
– Mumbai: Bharat Forge Ltd (BFL), the Kalyani Group’s flagship company, will continue to downsize its workforce to cut costs, Amit Kalyani, executive director, said on Wednesday.
via DNA: Money: Bharat Forge to cut jobs.
– -Huntsman will cut 104 jobs at its textile chemicals production site in Langweid, near Augsburg in Germany, through end 2010, the company said on Tuesday.
via Huntsman to cut 104 jobs at German textile chemicals site.
– The second-largest daily newspaper in the Netherlands, AD, is cutting 25 percent of its staff in the biggest cutback in the Netherlands since the beginning of the recession.
via nrc.nl – International – Dutch newspaper cuts one in four jobs.
– In its interim statement released yesterday, the drug delivery specialist said it has also cut headcount at its R&D facility in Muttenz, Switzerland, by 10%.
via Pharmafocus.com.
– Hiring News and News You Can Use–
– She says that during a standard year, the federal government posts 200,000 jobs. This year they’re going to post 600,000 and plenty of people will be competing.
via Federal News Radio 1500 AM: Obama’s Plan offers new federal jobs.
– The good news is that you don’t have to be a policy wonk to be hired by the government. Many of these jobs are similar to those you’d find at any company. For instance, this week’s jobs run the gamut from Web site coordinator to supervisory employee benefits law specialist.
— They also tend to offer better listings that may get lost without the perfect keyword search on the bigger sites.
– Houston ranks No. 1 among U.S. cities for number of manufacturing plants and jobs, according to the 2009 Texas Manufacturers Register.
The guide, published annually by Manufacturers’ News Inc. of Evanston, Ill., states that Houston is home to 221,697 manufacturing employees spread across 3,957 manufacturers. According to the register, Houston employment in the manufacturing sector has not changed over the past 12 months.
via Survey: Houston No. 1 for manufacturing plants, jobs – Houston Business Journal: .
– The United States Census Bureau is looking for applicants to fill management positions in 10 local census offices. One opening is in Boone and another in nearby Hickory.
According to the Census Bureau, the organization is looking for managers to staff local offices that will open this fall to support 2010 Census operations.
– EAST TEXAS – Dozens of employers are seeking to fill over 1,000 positions that East Texas job seekers will have the opportunity to apply for at Congressman Louie Gohmert’s upcoming East Texas Job Fairs.
via More than 1,000 jobs are available for East Texas | KETKnbc.com | The News Station.
– Adecco USA, a staffing company that opened a national payroll office at Rochester Technology Park last year, will add 140 employees and expand the space it occupies at the site.
via Adecco to add 140 jobs | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle.
– The 87 new employees have been hired to work at the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center, which deals with highly-radioactive waste.
via WBIR.com | Knoxville, TN | Oak Ridge facility adds 87 jobs.
– It’s said to be one of the best kept secrets in Niagara Falls; construction on a new downtown attraction has been underway for more than six months and its set to bring 100 new jobs to the Cataract City.
via wgrz.com | Buffalo, NY | Snow Park, 100 Jobs Coming to Niagara Falls
– U.S. Cellular is adding 100 customer service positions to its staff of about 400 in Waukesha, the company said Wednesday.
via U.S. Cellular to add 100 jobs in Waukesha – JSOnline.
– JW Aluminum announced late last week that the aluminum manufacturer will recall 65 employees to its Russellville facility following an upturn in demand for the plant’s products, which include heating and cooling components and packaging for consumer goods.
via The Courier, Russellville, Ark. .
– Comfortex Window Fashions says it will invest $4 million dollars, create 43 new jobs and retain 200 positions at its Maplewood headquarters.
Mike: Till tomorrow……………….………….
