Friday brings with it the Employment Situation, which is expected to be a market mover. The consensus estimate ranges from -625,000 to -495,000. Till then……………
Mike: Jobless Claims show a slight drop to 621,000 from a revised upward figure of 625,000 the previous week. Seems that every week we have a jobless claims number that is revised upward, but that’s another story. The continuing claims number came it at 6.7 million, which was 15,000 less than the previous week. Improvement is improvement, but this is minor improvement at best. As mentioned by the John A. Challenger of the Challenger employment report yesterday, “The second quarter is typically the lowest quarter of the year when it comes to job cuts.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people on the unemployment insurance rolls fell slightly last week for the first time in 20 weeks, while the tally of new jobless claims also dipped, the government said Thursday.
The report provides a glimmer of good news for job seekers, though both drops were small and the figures remain significantly above the levels associated with a healthy economy.
The Labor Department said the tally of first-time claims for jobless benefits declined to a seasonally adjusted 621,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 625,000, nearly matching analysts’ expectations.
The total jobless benefit rolls fell by 15,000 to 6.7 million, the first drop since early January. Continuing claims had set record highs every week since the week ending Jan. 24. The continuing claims data lag initial claims by one week.
Still, the number of initial claims remains stubbornly high, above the 605,000 level reached five weeks ago. That was the lowest level in 14 weeks.
The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, rose by 4,000 to 631,250.
via The Associated Press: Jobless benefit rolls fall, initial claims dip.
Mike: As I mentioned above, there is a trend of higher revised unemployment figures and at times the revision is substantial:
– The Labor Department’s data has been revised lower for the last 15 consecutive months at an average number of about 93,600. And if that weren’t enough, the few recent downward revisions to the ADP employment numbers appear to have presaged ones to the Labor Department’s reports.
After ADP revised the February loss to 706,000 from 697,000, the Labor Department revised its own report from a decline of 651,000 jobs to 681,000. Similarly, ADP’s November loss of 250,000 jobs was revised a month later to a drop of 472,000. The Labor Department’s nonfarm payrolls loss of 533,000 jobs in November was later revised to a drop of 597,000.
Walt Handelsman
My following rant may seem trivial to some, but the following story made my blood flow early. I believe it shows the complete disconnect of business executives from the human condition. Here we have an economist with MasterCard saying that high unemployment is a cause for celebration. It’s this type of economic expert that is so detached from the daily lives of the average person that they no longer see, feel or can experience the adverse affects unemployment has on the individual, families and communities. When you hear such harse, detatched and unempathetic quotes it’s often from the financial wizards. Here’s another one of those wizards of finance touting the benefits of unemployment from his comfort zone. I realize that some unemployment will always be the nature of an economy, but my point is one of how some of the most powerful men in the business world have absolutely no concern for the individual, but have a deep and sincere attachemt to a corporation. I am reminded of a John Lennon song titled “Power to the People,” but with a new title of “Profit over People.” I digress – here’s the story:
“Your ability to lay off people faster than your competitor will actually determine who is a survivor,” he said.
“That in turn will allow business to expand, and investment will begin to come back to turn that business cycle around and increase employment.
“So this is a short-term spiking that is very healthy.
“I wouldn’t worry about high unemployment. You may read all sorts of doom and gloom news in the media, but from my view I would start popping champagne.”
via Epoch Times – MasterCard Economist Celebrates Higher Unemployment.
- UCSD says it’s not done after shedding 800 jobs
- Wal-Mart says it will create 22,000 jobs in 2009
- Medical bills underlie 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies
- US retailers report May sales declines
- Cessna: More layoffs coming, numbers not released
- Capital Research and Management to cut 820 jobs
- West Allis factory closing eliminates 215 jobs
- Volvo to cut 135 more jobs at Shippensburg plant
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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 –
– The Alliance@IBM rallied on Route 9 today in the light rain to make public their objections to IBM’s labor practices.
Job cuts for Americans, sending work overseas and the granting of tax breaks for IBM were the three points of contention posed by the about 15 members and supporters of the workers’ group at the rally.
The declines came in largely in line with analyst expectations, with frequent standouts such as The Buckle Inc. posting better results. Costco Wholesale Corp. and mall retailer Limited Brands Inc. reported declines.
via US retailers report May sales declines – Yahoo! Finance.
The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of U.S. online job demand based on a review of job opportunities culled from corporate jobs sites, including Monster.
via Monster says online jobs index fell in May: Associated Press Business News – MSN Money.
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8:30 AM ETJune 4 (Bloomberg) — U.S. worker productivity rose more in the first quarter than previously estimated as the worst recession in at least half a century prompted companies to cut costs by extracting more output from remaining employees.
Productivity, a measure of worker output per hour, climbed at a 1.6 percent annual rate, more than forecast and double the 0.8 percent gain estimated last month, revised figures from the Labor Department showed today. Labor costs increased 3 percent after climbing 5.1 percent at the end of 2008.
via U.S. First-Quarter Productivity Rises 1.6%; Labor Costs Up 3% – Bloomberg.com.
Mike: The following story is very improtant, but it received little media play. Media currently are pushing all the “green shoots” and good news stories they can find, but they present a deceptive picture of the current state of the economy. This isn’t all doom and gloom, but wandering through the economic maze without an up to date map will be confusing and lead to missed opportunities. When CFOs see worse times ahead – and they are the people with the most to gain by better times – it’s an opinion that deserves consideration at a minimum.
The quarterly Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey asked 1,309 CFOs worldwide about their expectations for the economy. Their answers paint a gloomy picture for the rest of the year.
* CFOs in the U.S. and Europe expected employment to shrink by 5.5 percent, with the unemployment rate in the U.S. seen rising to perhaps as high as 12 percent in the next 12 months. Employment in Asia is expected to recede by 1.2 percent.
via Duke, CFO study: CFOs foresee more job cuts, credit woes – Triangle Business Journal: .
– WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Medical bills are involved in more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, an increase of 50 percent in just six years, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.
More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by their medical debts, the team at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University reported in the American Journal of Medicine.
via Medical bills underlie 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies: study – Yahoo! News.
Stuart Carlson
– Ten city employees are expected to be laid off today to help Coachella bridge a projected $3.2 million deficit.
As City Hall is closed on alternating Fridays, the cuts were made effective the last day of this work week. They were made across the board among the city’s 90 employees and not based on seniority, said city spokesman Bob Marra.
via Budget woes force Coachella to cut 10 jobs | MyDesert.com | The Desert Sun.
– Milpitas City Council voted 3-2, with Vice Mayor Pete McHugh and Councilwoman Althea Polanski dissenting, to finalize adoption of the city’s estimated $145-million 2009-10 fiscal year budget, triggering the unprecedented layoffs of 21 full-time City of Milpitas employees to help close next year’s projected $8.7-million shortfall.
via Milpitas city layoffs confirmed as council approves budget – The Milpitas Post Online.
– Southold will lay off 16 workers this week as the town tries to close a million-dollar budget gap that officials said is the product of huge shortfalls in mortgage tax collections and interest and earnings revenues.
via The Suffolk Times.
– The education field was once thought to be recession proof, but 73 district employees will be laid off this month.
via JCPS layoffs forcing some out of work | EDUCATION | WHAS11.com | News for Louisville, Kentucky.
– SNOW HILL — At the end of the workday Friday, 11 Worcester County employees were told to clear out their desks and were then escorted from the building. According to officials, the layoffs — which were part of a greater plan to consolidate three departments — will save the county $532,000.
via County jobs in land-planning offices are cut | delmarvanow.com | The Daily Times.
– Layoff notices go out Friday to 19 employees in the financially strapped city of Warren. Human Resources Director Gary Cicero tells 21 News that notices will be sent to five police officers.
– US and some Canada Layoff News –
– LA JOLLA — As it absorbs deep budget cuts and braces for more, the University of California San Diego has quietly reduced its work force by more than 800 positions, or nearly 5.5 percent, in recent months, university officials disclosed yesterday.
The downsizing includes at least 172 layoffs, 222 positions left vacant and 428 that have been eliminated, said Stacie Spector, associate vice chancellor for communications.
via UCSD says it’s not done after shedding 800 jobs.
– BOULDER – The University of Colorado plans to eliminate 75 faculty and staff positions at the Boulder campus to help trim $12.9 million from its budget.
– Until then, Mong and 11 others are out of a job. He said he’ll likely do some roofing work with his grandfather until he can return to Fetter’s.
via The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA – 12 out of jobs after Fetter’s fire.
– Weil Gotshal & Manges has laid off 79 support staff across its US offices due to the pressures of the economic downturn.
via Weil Gotshal cuts 79 US support jobs | News | The Lawyer.
– The restructuring move effects about 20 workers, while the early-stage hepatitis C drug program for ANA773 will end. The focus will now be on ANA598, which is heading into midstage development for hepatitis C.
via Anadys cuts jobs, program in restructuring move – Forbes.com.
– DEERFIELD – The new owners of Hardigg Industries laid off 50 of the 500 workers at the company’s 300,000-square-foot South Deerfield plant Monday.
via Firm lays off 50 in South Deerfield – MassLive.com.
– Cherry Blossom, LLC, of Williamsburg, laid off about 45 workers and stopped processing cherries this week due to problems meeting payroll, a company spokesman said. Cherry Blossom’s sister company, WRS Holding LLC, owes almost $41,000 in back property taxes.
via Traverse City Record-Eagle – Article: Company lays off 45, halts processing.
– The plant, which makes sofas, ottomans, loveseats and other furniture for chain stores and independently owned shops, already has laid off eight of its 35 workers. The remaining employees are filling back orders now, but unless new orders come in they will find themselves out of work soon.
via Spruce Pine furniture plant halted | CITIZEN-TIMES.com | Asheville Citizen-Times.
– More than 100 employees work at the Belleville location and there are 450, in total, affected at MCCI operations in Peterborough and Belleville.
via MCCI lays off Belleville employees – Belleville Intelligencer – Ontario, CA .
– WICHITA – Cessna Aircraft is informing employees this morning that a new round of layoffs is in the works.
Officials are not saying how many jobs will be cut, but employees will be notified by June 19.
via Cessna: More layoffs coming, numbers not released | Top Stories | Wichita Eagle.
– The ABB plant’s human resources manager confirmed the company is cutting another 25 full-time hourly employees.
via 25 more layoffs for ABB plant : News : KRCG .
– About 75 workers at the Ken-American Resources owned Paradise Mine were notified Tuesday that they would no longer have a job Tuesday.
via KY mine announced layoffs – 14 News, The Tri-State’s News and Weather Leader-.
– Former employees of Royal Vendors Inc., in Charles Town, said that approximately 40 workers were permanently dismissed from their jobs on Monday. Others were told to contact the company in November to see if they could return to work.
– BRIDGEPORT — Proving that the recession strikes even the largest, oldest and necessary businesses, Bridgeport Hospital joined Greenwich Hospital by announcing Wednesday that it would begin layoffs in July to cut some of its financial losses.
via Staff cuts coming to Bridgeport Hospital – The Connecticut Post Online.
– AGCO Corp., Harvey County’s largest employer, announced Wednesday it was laying off 60 full-time production employees.
via AGCO announces layoffs – Newton, KS – The Newton Kansan.
– The Maui Prince Hotel and Makena Resort signed a two-year contract extension with ILWU Local 142 on Monday, but it included a furlough of 49 bargaining unit workers – about one quarter of the staff.
– Two Emerson Electric Co. subsidies in Minnesota laid off 176 workers.
Kato Engineering in Mankato, Minn., near Minneapolis-St. Paul, cut 94 jobs, or about 20 percent of its work force.
Another Emerson subsidiary, Rosemount Inc., let go 82 workers at its Chanhassen, Minn., headquarters and at an office in Eden Prairie, Minn.
via Emerson lays off 176 in Minnesota – St. Louis Business Journal: .
– The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees will be asked July 23 to cut five academic programs and 51 faculty and staff jobs.
via UCF wants to cut 5 programs, 51 jobs – Orlando Business Journal: .
– Capital Research and Management Co. will lay off 820 people over the next two weeks, according to an internal memo the parent company of American Funds and Capital Guardian Trust sent to all employees on Monday.
via Capital Research and Management to cut 820 jobs – Pensions & Investments .
– Fire extinguisher manufacturer Amerex Corp. cut 20 jobs this week in response to decreased orders.
via Trussville’s Amerex cuts 20 jobs – Birmingham Business Journal: .
– Metal Technologies Inc. plans to close its West Allis Ductile Iron plant this summer, leaving 215 employees without jobs.
via West Allis factory closing eliminates 215 jobs – The Business Journal of Milwaukee: .
– Another 135 jobs at Volvo’s road machinery plant in Shippensburg will be eliminated by the end of July, a company spokeswoman said Thursday.
via The Sentinel Online : News : Local : Volvo to cut 135 more jobs at Shippensburg plant.
– PLAQUEMINE, LA (WAFB) – Nearly 100 contract maintenance workers were laid off from the Georgia Gulf plant in Plaquemine Thursday.
via Nearly 100 laid off at Plaquemine plant – WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |.
– The Integer Group laid off 19 of its 160 Iowa employees June 1. Integer Group of the Midwest president Frank Maher says the agency hasn’t lost clients but several reduced their spending.
– The government approved a business plan giving the company the flexibility to temporarily lay off as many of its 12,000 Spanish employees as it needs to reduce European capacity in line with falling demand for steel.
via ArcelorMittal Gets Approval for Deep Layoffs in Spain – NYTimes.com.
– Dairy Farmers of Britain produces 10% of Britain’s milk but has suffered from heavy losses and the end of a contract to supply the Co-Operative supermarket.
Staff at dairies in Newcastle, Bridgend and Lincoln are among the workers fearing for their jobs.
via Dairy Farmers Of Britain Collapses Putting 2,200 Milk Jobs At Risk | Business | Sky News.
– A total of 26 redundancies are to be made at SAICA Packaging UK’s Hartlepool site to secure the future of the corrugated packaging factory.
via SAICA announces redundancies at North East corrugated plant | Business | packagingnews.co.uk.
– One of Gibraltar’s leading online gambling companies 888.com has confirmed a process of redundancies and the loss of around 40 jobs as a result of the international financial recession. The company remains a major employer in the private sector.
via Gibraltar Chronicle – The Independent Daily First Published 1801.
– Snackfood company Real McCoy announced yesterday that around 40 people would be made redundant at their factory in Shepparton.
via Closing of Campbell Arnott’s factory leaves 40 jobless | Australian Food News.
– The company will be cutting staff from operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, but said details have not been finalized.
via ADC tops 2Q earnings expectations, will cut jobs – BusinessWeek.
– Up to 130 workers could lose their jobs as Herron Pharmaceuticals plans to shut a Brisbane factory to save its southern operations.
via Herron Pharmaceuticals to close Brisbane factory, cut jobs.
– More than 300 workers are to lose their jobs from Plymouth-based luxury motor boat builder Princess Yachts.
via BBC NEWS | UK | England | Devon | Yacht firm announces 300 job cuts.
– A Chinese mining company says it is laying off dozens of workers at its Guyana mines as the global economic crisis slows demand for bauxite.
– Hiring News and News You Can Use–
Mike: Creating 22,000 jobs is admirable, but the scope of the reporting on this story is less than admirable. Will Walmart add 22,000 to its exisitng workforce, or are they hiring 22,000 new workers while releasing others? I dug through a number of stories, but failed to come up with an answer. If you have an answer, please send it along.
– BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — As Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opens about 150 new or expanded stores in the U.S. in 2009, the company expects to hire about 22,000 people for new positions.
Those positions include plenty of cashiers and stock clerks, but the world’s largest retailer will also be adding store managers, pharmacists and personnel workers.
Wal-Mart is holding its annual shareholders meeting on Friday, and employees from its stores around the world are spending the week in Bentonville at company headquarters.
via The Associated Press: Wal-Mart says it will create 22,000 jobs in 2009.
– Dear Carrie: I work for a dentist. He plans to close the office for five to seven weeks to have shoulder surgery. Can I collect unemployment benefits during that time?
— Temporarily Closed
Dear Temporarily: If you don’t obtain work in the meantime, you may be able to receive unemployment benefits. “It’s a temporary lack of work,” a New York State Department of Labor spokeswoman said. “She should be eligible.”
via Temp layoff may qualify worker for jobless benefits — Newsday.com.
– The region added about 3,400 jobs between April 2008 and April 2009, making it the only one of the nation’s 38 largest cities to post a job gain, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. This is the third consecutive month that Austin has outperformed all of the other U.S. cities with labor forces of 750,000 or more. The unemployment rate for April stood at 5.8 percent.
via Austin only major city to add jobs in last year – Austin Business Journal: .
– LENEXA, Kan. – A Pennsylvania outsourcing company is nearing the end of an expansion at a customer call center in suburban Kansas City that will ultimately employ 725 new workers.
via Lenexa outsourcing facility adding 725 jobs | AP | 06/04/2009.
– Forbes is digging through the Department of Labor’s lists of open jobs to find the highest-paid professional positions to post here. Along with the job title, we’ll tell you a little about the job and the salary range and provide a direct link to the official listing and online application. Don’t wait to apply. The deadlines for many of these jobs are quickly approaching.
via In Pictures: Government Jobs You Should Apply For Now – Forbes.com .
– LAS VEGAS — The massive two-tower expansion of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino will boost the Las Vegas job market by putting 1,200 people to work.
Mike: I hope you all have a good evening..…………………….
Dilbert
Tags: COBRA, cut jobs, economic, employment, factory closing, firing, hiring, IBM, job loss, jobs cut, layoffs, plant closing, positions eliminated, redundancies, staff cuts, unemployment, workforce reduction
