US job losses deepen in March as employers cut 80,000 posts

AMD Layoffs

Nova Scotia casinos cutting up to 120 jobs

L.A. Mayor Reveals Plan To Cut Jobs, Increase Fees

Midwest announces 3.5% workforce reduction

Sears cuts 100 more headquarters jobs

Concern for Job Prospects, Security

Torstar cutting newspaper jobs

AT&T to slash about 4,500 jobs

Big staff cuts at Seattle Times; news offices in suburbs to shut down

AOL To Layoff 100 Staffers Across Platform-A

By David Kaplan - Fri 18 Apr 2008 01:23 PM PST

AOL (NYSE: TWX) plans to lay off roughly 100 staffers from its Platform-A ad agency network over the coming months, sources say, confirming an earlier report from SAI. While roughly a dozen staffers may have been laid off immediately, most will come over several weeks, sources tell us. An AOL rep said that layoffs are planned to eliminate “redundancies,” the company is not specifying how many of Platform-A’s 1,500 staffers are being let go. AOL released a statement: “These steps are necessary to guarantee that Platform-A’s people and technologies are organized around common goals and operate as a seamless organization that is focused on our customers.”

Deciding on where and how many jobs to cut was a top priority for Lynda Clarizio, who replaced Curt Viebranz as Platform-A president last month. Viebranz was ousted over disagreements over Platform-A’s budgeting, as well as over steps regarding the integration of the six separate units within the network.

One source, who didn’t want to be identified, said that Viebranz was forced out largely because he disagreed with AOL CEO Randy Falco and COO Ron Grant over which unit would manage ad sales tied to behavioral targeting - Tacoda or Advertising.com. Although Tacoda specializes in behavioral targeting, senior executives wanted to subordinate its sales force to display ad net Advertising.com, which was acquired by AOL in 2004 and has been considered one of the unit’s major success stories. Tacoda was bought by AOL last summer and at the time was headed by Viebranz, who was named president of Platform-A last September.

Aside from the alleged tug of war between Advertising.com and Tacoda, Platform-A was charged with the difficult job of consolidating the other interactive ad acquisitions AOL has made over the past several months, including contextual advertiser Quigo, streaming media ad specialist Lightningcast, German online ad server Adtech, and mobile ad services provider Third Screen Media. The layoff decision also comes the same week that AOL transplanted 300 staffers from various locations around New York City and its Dulles, Va. headquarters to its new Greenwich Village offices at 770 Broadway.

It was unclear whether any senior posts were being eliminated as part of this round of job cuts. Platform-A has already seen the defection of three high-profile execs, including former Tacoda founder Dave Morgan, who left in February as EVP-Global Advertising Strategy in February to create a start-up; also in February, Kathy Kayse exited as EVP of marketing solutions to work for Discovery Communications (NSDQ: DISCA).

In addition to those departures, the Tacoda unit in particular has seen a string of other senior, if less high-profile, executives leaving within the past few months, including Tacoda CFO Mark Pinney and Dan Jaye, who was CTO and Viebranz’s successor as president of that unit; Larry Allen, Tacoda’s head of business development, and Matt Arkin, who was Tacoda’ ad sales head and was tapped to manage Platform-A’s western region are gone now as well. Our source says more voluntary departures are coming over the next few weeks as well.

AT&T to layoff 4,650 employees

AT&T Inc. is laying off 4,650 employees, or 1.5 percent of its workforce, in order to operate more efficiently after bringing together several companies in recent years, according to a regulatory filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

An AT&T spokesman said the company cannot break out how many St. Louis employees are affected. The company has 310,000 employees and there are almost 9,000 AT&T employees in the St. Louis area, according to Business Journal research.

The job cuts are primarily among management employees. AT&T is streamlining its operations particularly in non-customer-facing areas so that the company is more focused on customers, according to the filing.

The company's overall headcount is expected to remain stable in 2008, though, as the company hires additional employees to support growth areas, according to the filing. Those growth areas include AT&T's wireless, home TV and broadband businesses.

"It's important to put the announcement in context. AT&T is a huge organization, with more than 300,000 employees," Walt Sharp, AT&T spokesman, said in a statement. "We are constantly adjusting our headcount, primarily to get more employees into our growth areas. The bottom line is that we remain one of America's largest employers and we are putting jobs where our customers are."

AT&T will take a pre-tax charge of $374 million in the first quarter of 2008 associated with these force reductions.

San Antonio-based AT&T Inc. provides local and long-distance telephone and Internet service in Missouri and Illinois.

matthewallen@bizjournals.com

Volvo layoff to be bigger than expected

Layoffs are on the horizon for workers at the Volvo Plant in Dublin.

This comes just a month after a strike there.

About 2,600 employees walked off the job at midnight on January 31. They signed a new contract a month and a half later.

Now, a Volvo spokesperson says 1,100 employees will be laid off in May, knocking work down to one shift.

The company says production demand has dropped. The economy and high price of diesel are also factors in Volvo's decision.

Workers were told back in November that layoffs would be eminent, but only 650 workers were expected be let go.

Volvo told the union some of some of the workers may be rehired in September, but there are no guarantees. Workers will be let go based on seniority.

GM in Oshawa laying off 1,000

Strike at American parts plant takes further toll

Apr 17, 2008 04:30 AM

Tony Van Alphen
Business Reporter

The impact of the continuing strike at American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. in the United States will soon hit another General Motors plant in Oshawa.

General Motors of Canada Ltd. confirmed yesterday that temporary layoff notices have been sent to about 1,000 workers on the third shift at the Oshawa car complex, effective Monday.

Stew Low, GM's director of communications, said the company is reducing car output because of a shortage of parts from American Axle, where a strike by 3,600 workers has closed five U.S. operations since late February.

Low said it is unclear whether GM could cancel the layoff at the car plant if American Axle and the United Auto Workers reach a settlement during the next few days.

Yesterday the UAW said it postponed a labour rally set for Friday because progress was being made in the contract talks in Detroit. The UAW has rejected company demands for major wage cuts.

The shift cut at the Oshawa car plant will reduce output of Chevrolet Impalas, Buick Allures and LaCrosses by about 500 a day. The plant currently assembles about 1,550 vehicles daily.

The American Axle strike and subsequent shortage of parts has triggered the shutdown of numerous GM assembly operations across North America, including the Oshawa truck plant.

However, output at the truck plant will resume Monday for three weeks because GM is directing parts from an American Axle factory in Mexico to three GM truck operations instead of plants that assemble sport utility vehicles.

The Oshawa truck plant, which employs more than 2,000 workers on two shifts, has been idle for seven weeks.

While on layoff, GM employees, who are members of the Canadian Auto Workers, receive about 65 per cent of gross pay through a combination of federal employment insurance and company supplementary unemployment benefits.

TeleTech job cuts begin in mass layoff

By Joe Goldeen

Record Staff Writer

April 17, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - More than 200 employees at TeleTech in Stockton were told last week their jobs will be eliminated after one of the Colorado-based outsourcing company's corporate clients reduced its customer service needs.

The first wave of 46 employees will be laid off at the end of this week. They were either not full-time workers or had worked for less than six months at TeleTech, 6221 N. West Lane.

The next wave will come June 13, when 50 employees will work their last day. Four more waves will follow, ending Sept. 26, when the last wave will be let go for a total of 226 employees. Ten of that total are operations supervisors at the management level.

If the company is unable to pick up a new contract for work this summer, TeleTech in Stockton will be left with 150 employees. Employees primarily serve as customer service representatives for large corporations, answering phone inquiries from those corporations' customers.

The company does not talk about its clients, but employees have said they most recently fielded customer service calls for United Healthcare, particularly its Medicare insurance plans.

TeleTech spokeswoman K.C. Higgins said it's normal for the global company to experience rapid changes in employment levels at individual sites based on its corporate clients' needs. She remained optimistic about a new contract.

"I'm feeling really good about our ability to put work in (Stockton). This is part of the ebb and flow of our business. This is never a situation we like to be in. We are committed to Stockton and doing everything we can to find work for those people. It's a great staff there, and we would love to keep them," Higgins said from her office in Englewood, Colo.

Brittany Duncan, 22, of Stockton started answering customer calls at TeleTech in September 2006 and will be part of this summer's layoff. She expressed disappointment about having to find a new job but hasn't been pleased with the work environment at TeleTech either.

"I started at about $10 an hour, went up to $14 and then went back to $10 last April. We all had to take an involuntary pay cut. I just bought a house, so it's sink or swim at this point. But I haven't seen anything locally that's similar to this kind of work," Duncan said. "It sucks."

Contact reporter Joe Goldeen at (209) 546-8278 or jgoldeen@recordnet.com.

Ethanol plant builder ICM lays off 105

BY PHYLLIS JACOBS GRIEKSPOOR

The Wichita Eagle

ICM Inc., the nation's leading designer of ethanol plants, has laid off 105 employees.

ICM officials blamed the layoffs on a sluggish economy that has weakened the U.S. dollar and made it difficult to find lenders to fund domestic projects.

The layoffs affect multiple departments at ICM, which had been on a rapid growth curve over the past several years. Before the layoffs, ICM had more than doubled the size of its headquarters in Colwich, building two new office projects. It employed 671 workers before the layoff.

Affected workers were notified Tuesday and were given information on extended benefits and severance pay.

"This is in no way a reflection of the valued work performed by our employees," said Dave Vander Griend, president and chief executive of ICM. "During recent quarterly employee luncheons, I have addressed the volatile market conditions that have persisted, such as commodity market concerns and the projects slowdown."

Bucking the layoff trend, Amazon seeks 500 workers for Kentucky location

Other companies may be laying off workers in a weakening economy, but Amazon.com Inc. is hiring.

Amazon, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, is holding open house events today and tomorrow as it seeks to fill 500 positions in its three fulfillment centers in Hebron, KY. The company is seeking area, operations and facilities managers as well as hourly warehouse, human resources, maintenance, shipping and receiving, and security workers.

"As we continue to expand selection for customers across all product categories, we are hiring smart, friendly and dedicated people to help us accommodate current and future demand," says Connie Wendzicki, Amazon`s Eastern regional director of fulfillment.

Citigroup Records a Loss and Plans 9,000 Layoffs

Vikram S. Pandit passed his first test at Citigroup. His next one may not be so easy.

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Citi set aside funds to cover losses in its global consumer unit.

Despite announcing one of the biggest quarterly losses in Citigroup’s history, Mr. Pandit, the company’s new chief executive, seemed to win over investors on Friday. Shares of Citigroup rose 4.5 percent in the hope that he can heal the ailing financial giant.

The results — which included a $5.1 billion loss, another multibillion-dollar write-down and a pledge to eliminate 9,000 more jobs — were not as bad as many people feared. The news generated a rally in financial shares that helped lift the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index by 1.8 percent, capping the stock market’s best week since February.

Now comes the hard part for Mr. Pandit. With one grim quarter behind him, he must make good on promises to streamline Citigroup’s operations, control costs and improve risk management. Investors expect results, and will punish Citigroup stock if he fails to deliver them.

“Citigroup may not be in the intensive care unit,” said Meredith Whitney, a banking analyst at Oppenheimer, “but it is still in the operating room and has a ton of tubes in it.”

Citigroup has disappointed investors for years, and turning the company around will not be easy. For example, executives concede it could take at least five years for the company’s technology systems to catch up to those of its rivals.

Mr. Pandit is moving quickly to cut costs. As part of the layoffs announced on Friday, Citigroup will cut 7,000 jobs in its consumer banking operations and 1,700 jobs in its investment bank. Those reductions come on top of more than 4,200 layoffs announced in January.

While those numbers may seem big, the total represents less than 3.5 percent of Citigroup’s global work force at the start of the year.

Of bigger concern are rising losses on consumer loans, which are likely to haunt the bank in the months ahead. With unemployment rising and the economy flagging, losses on mortgages, credit cards and auto loans could grow at an alarming pace, executives say.

“We are in uncharted territory,” Gary L. Crittenden, Citigroup’s chief financial officer, said in a conference call with analysts on Friday. “There are times where we could face significant headwinds during the year.”

For the first quarter, Citigroup took more than $13.8 billion in write-offs and set aside an additional $3.1 billion to cover souring loans. The company’s first-quarter loss in 2008 was roughly equal to its earnings in the first quarter of last year.

Citigroup reported a net loss of $5.1 billion, or $1.02 a share, in contrast to $5 billion, or $1.01 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $13.2 billion, a 48 percent drop from 2007.

Wall Street analysts long expected Mr. Pandit to swallow hefty losses in the consumer businesses and investments to get a fresh start. The quarterly results, littered with eight special items including a $622 million restructuring charges, were as messy as analysts feared.

Citigroup recorded a $6 billion pretax write-down on bad investments related to subprime mortgages and $1.8 billion on the decline in value of commercial real estate as well as other securities tied to structured investment vehicles and less risky home loans.

The company also took a $3.1 billion charge tied to the collapse of values on high-yielding buyout loans, a $1.5 billion hit from its exposure to bond insurance companies, and another $1.5 billion write-down on its inventory of auction-rate securities as markets for student loan and municipal bonds failed.

Citigroup set aside $3.1 billion more to cover future losses in its global consumer division, an area that analysts say has long been underserved.

“We are not happy with our financial results this quarter, although they are not completely unexpected given the assets we hold,” Mr. Pandit said Friday in a conference call with investors. But he later added, “We are on top of our risks.” Until recently, Citigroup shareholders have had little to cheer. Since Sanford I. Weill put together the landmark Citicorp-Travelers Group merger in April 1998, the company has been plagued by years of dismal results and a series of scandals. The failure to properly integrate the company has resulted in bloated costs, brutal politics and a lack of a cohesive culture.

Mr. Pandit is now tackling those problems head-on. He has settled on a plan that will keep the bank’s diversified business model largely intact but promises better execution and risk oversight. He has also vowed to push the company into products and overseas markets that promise faster growth. To raise capital, he is shedding several businesses, as he did with the sale on Wednesday of Citigroup’s North American commercial lending business to General Electric and in offloading the Diners Club credit card portfolio to Discover Financial.

Citigroup executives have reduced the bank’s exposure to the most risky mortgage-linked investments. The company has also sold about $9 billion of leveraged loans to buyout firms, though at steep discounts.

Mr. Pandit and his top lieutenants argue that these are early signs of progress. They also recognize that investors have their doubts.

“We have begun to indicate that we have the capability to manage assets, head count and expense,” Mr. Crittenden said in an interview on Friday. “We will have to earn it.”

Managers Among 4,650 Losing AT&T Jobs

AT&T said Friday that it would eliminate the jobs of about 4,650 workers, trimming the managerial ranks in its fading home phone business after more than $100 billion in acquisitions.

The decision covers about 1.5 percent of the work force, AT&T, the largest American phone company, said in a regulatory filing. The dismissals are in addition to the 10,000 announced with the $86 billion purchase of BellSouth in December 2006, a spokesman, Walt Sharp, said.

Most of the reductions apply to the local phone business, Mr. Sharp said.

That unit lost 1.6 million residential lines last year as customers switched to cable and wireless phone service. AT&T, which had about 310,000 employees as of Jan. 31, has sought to reduce overlap in its operations since buying BellSouth and the former AT&T Corporation. It plans to cut annual costs by about $7 billion by 2009.

AT&T plans to book a pretax cost of about $374 million for the job cuts in the first quarter. Before the announcement, analysts on average predicted AT&T would report net income of $3.95 billion for the period.

The company is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on Tuesday. In the previous quarter, sales fell short of analysts’ estimates after some customers failed to pay their bills, hurt by slowing economic growth.

The cuts will occur in all parts of the United States, Mr. Sharp said. AT&T provides home phone service in 22 states. With new hires in other parts of the business, the company expects overall head count to remain stable this year, according to the filing.

Zurich Financial cuts 400 jobs

Zurich Financial Services said Friday it is cutting 400 jobs at its North American business insurance unit, the second significant insurance industry layoff announced in the Chicago area in as many days, according to Crain's Chicago Business.

The Swiss financial giant employs 10,500 in its Zurich North America Commercial unit, 2,200 of whom work in its Schaumburg headquarters and another 500 in other Chicago-area offices, a spokesman said.

The cutbacks are spread throughout Zurich’s 110 offices nationwide, and the company isn’t disclosing how many of those cuts are local, he said.

Northbrook-based Allstate Corp. Thursday confirmed the planned layoff of 109 information technology workers in the north suburbs.

Business insurers like Zurich have struggled to maintain underwriting profit margins as premiums on commercial property and casualty policies have fallen due to heightened competition.

Maryville plant announces planned layoff of 200 employees

Maryville, Blount County (WVLT) - All employees of the Newell Rubbermaid plant in Maryville were called in this morning for a meeting where company officials announced they plan to eliminate 200 jobs.

The company currently employs 600 workers, only 400 of those jobs will remain.

The company says the layoffs won't happen until the first of September, however, they are already providing retraining and job placement assistance to employees.

In a statement released by the company, officials say they are shifting the jobs to other plants in Texas and Ohio to reduce cost and improve efficiency.

In a statement released by the company, officials say "This was a complicated decision for us to make and it is no reflection on the highly valued work performed by our many associates."

All employees were given the day off with pay after the meeting was over.

Stay tuned to Volunteer TV and volunteertv.com for updates on this developing story.

350 Dana Canada Workers Get Layoff Notices

350 Dana Canada Workers Get Layoff Notices

Bad news for 350 workers at the Dana Canada plant in St. Mary's.

They've been told the factory is laying them off in 12 weeks.

Dana makes frames for Ford "F" series pickups.

Just last week, 270 Dana workers in Mount Forest agreed to a pay increase.

We'll have further details on A-Channel News at 6:00.

The Seattle Times Co. will cut about 200 jobs

By Chuck Taylor and Bill Richards
The Seattle Times Co. today told its staff that it will reduce the newspaper's workforce by about 200, through layoff and attrition, and cut $15 million from the company's operating budget this year. Those figures are approximate, says spokesperson Jill Mackie. She said about two-thirds of the job cuts would result in actual layoffs, while a third are positions not presently filled. The company's Seattle-area employment is 1,845 full and part time people.
The magnitude of the layoff in coming months will depend to some degree on how many employees might be willing to volunteer to be laid off, with severance benefits. In a memo to employees, Alayne Fardella, the executive in charge of human resources, said the present estimate is 131 layoffs and 60 "frozen" positions going unfilled.
The Seattle Times newsroom of several hundred workers will see elimination of 49 positions, with 30 people being laid off and 19 unfilled jobs staying that way. The paper plans to close bureaus in Snohomish County and in the Eastside suburbs, according to people familiar with the plan.
The announcement comes during a time of turmoil in the newspaper business, with legacy print products attracting fewer readers and advertising dollars, while Web readership and advertising, though increasing, are failing to cover the gap. Though it is the state's biggest-circulation newspaper, The Seattle Times has been hit particularly hard, executives say, due to a 49-day strike in 2000-01 and a three-year legal battle with Seattle Post-Intelligencer owner Hearst over the two papers' joint operating agreement.
Layoffs in business departments of the Times will affect the P-I to some degree because the Times handles advertising sales, production, and distribution for both papers. Employees of the Times were told of the plan at noon-hour meetings at company headquarters in South Lake Union. At the P-I office a mile away, Publisher Roger Oglesby said: "The P-I has no layoffs planned at this time, but that is not to say layoffs won't happen here at some point, too."
Last month, citing financial hardship, the company put up for sale three daily newspapers in Maine — the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram, the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville. Besides The Seattle Times flagship, the company also owns two other dailies in Washington — the Yakima Herald-Republic and Walla Walla Union-Bulletin — as well as the NWsource.com Web portal.
In a memo to the Seattle Times Co. staff, CEO and Times Publisher Frank Blethen and Times Co. President Carolyn Kelly said the layoffs were "to better align our expenses to the reduced revenue we now anticipate."
"We recognize and regret that these decisions have a considerable impact on people's lives," the memo said.
Some Times staff members slated to be cut were notified in the newsroom shortly after the announcement, according to a union official.
Last month, Times Co. officials said the newspaper's print revenue fell by 10.7 percent in January and February and online revenue fell by 6.5 percent. "Our circumstances are in line with the newspaper industry nationally," the memo said.
Last month, Editor & Publisher, a newspaper industry trade publication, said all but three of the nation's top 30 newspaper Web sites had traffic gains in February, with both The Seattle Times and P-I showing increases. Citing figures gathered by Nielsen Online, E&P said traffic to the Times Web site rose 13.3 percent in February 2008, compared to February 2007, while the P-I recorded a 33.9 percent increase in February Web traffic compared to a year earlier.
Sandra Kataoka, a spokesperson for the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, which represents Times and P-I staffers, said news and ad employees at the Times had received layoff notices. The union has not been formally notified of the layoffs, Kataoka said.
According to a posting on the Guild's website, P-I officials told members of the newspaper's staff in February that the paper had lost $30 million since 2000 and that it was facing its most substantial loss this year. In an e-mail to Crosscut, Publisher Oglesby declined to confirm the union's post, noting that Hearst, which owns the P-I, is privately held and does not release financial information. Oglesby added, however, "there's no reason to believe the P-I will be profitable this year."
Here's the memo today from Blethen and Kelly to Times employees:
Date: April 7, 2008
To: Seattle Times Employees
From: Frank Blethen and Carolyn Kelly

Due to the continued and increased loss of traditional newspaper revenue for both The Seattle Times and the Seattle P-I, we will be making necessary expense reductions. Our circumstances are in line with the newspaper industry nationally, which continues to see steep declines particularly in areas of Classified ad revenue and also a slowing of online revenue growth.
We had hoped the expense reductions made at the beginning of the year would prevent the need for further downsizing, but that is not the case. The only responsible action to take is to better align our expenses to the reduced revenue we now anticipate.

The SOC team has identified approximately $15 million in budget reductions that will be implemented over the next two months. These include significant changes to the way we do business and involve realignment and centralization throughout our organization. You will hear more about the specific changes in departmental meetings.

The most difficult part of these changes involves a reduction of our workforce of approximately 200 positions through a combination of freezing open positions and a significant number of layoffs. This is not an action we take lightly – we recognize and regret that these decisions have a considerable impact on people’s lives.

Most affected employees are being notified today. In certain job categories, Expressions Of Interest (voluntary separations) are being considered, so there will be some continued uncertainty over the next two weeks until the EOI process has been completed. Alayne Fardella will send out a follow up communication with additional details.

While this is difficult news, it is important to note that the Seattle Times Company and the brands we represent remain market leaders. Our audience reach in print and online is deep and broad in the greater Puget Sound. Strategic and thoughtful changes to the way we do business will allow us to be positioned for the future.

Our success is based on our public service mission and our people. We are grateful for each individual’s contribution toward sustaining The Seattle Times as an independent and meaningful voice in our community far into the future.

North Ridge to lay off 405

North Ridge Medical Center has notified the state of its intent to layoff 405 employees by June 1.
The Oakland Park hospital was recently bought by Holy Cross Hospital, which said last week it would close the 322-bed facility within 90 days.

Holy Cross said it has a team working with affected employees to help them locate jobs within its ministry and through workshops, outplacement services and job fairs.

North Ridge -- which opened in the mid-1970s -- reported a net loss of $37.6 million on revenue of $90.6 million to the Agency of Health Care Administration for 2006. It had a 26.4 percent occupancy rate -- among the lowest in South Florida -- and had been owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. Tenet has one additional hospital in Broward County, five in Palm Beach County and four in Miami-Dade County.

Holy Cross, which owns a diagnostic treatment center across the street from North Ridge, posted a 2006 loss of $234,473 on revenue of $249.9 million. The 571-bed hospital has had an occupancy rate of 45.6 percent and more than 2,800 employees. It is sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy.

Decline in employment services jobs another sign of recession

by Sara Sargent Apr 09, 2008

At Ultimate Staffing Services in Schaumburg branch manager Penny Phillips has cast a wider net for potential clients as a way to offset the decrease in demand for her pool of temporary employees.

Since the beginning of 2008, Phillips has witnessed a gradual decline in the need for her company's employment services.

"We've started targeting other types of industries and businesses who utilize our services, particularly ones that are fairly recession-proof," Phillips said, including health care and customer service.

Phillips' assertions that she's seen "a little bit of a decline" and that "things are sort of slow" are echoed by the staffing industry nationwide. According to Keith Hall, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment services sector—which includes temporary help services—shed 42,000 jobs in March.

"To put these recent changes into context, I would note that labor market conditions started to weaken more than a year ago," Hall told the Joint Economic Committee of Congress last week. "Over the past 12 months, employment services has lost 158,000 jobs, three-fourths of which were in temporary help."

The statistics for the employment service industry comprise all employees receiving paychecks from employment services agencies, which include people working at the agencies as well as people for whom the agencies found employment. According preliminary data for March, there were 3.5 million people in the employment services industry, down 4 percent from 3.6 million in March 2007.

Out in the marketplace, that 4 percent decline has hit hard.

Linda Reyes, owner of The Hospitality Staffing Network in Chicago, said that during the past 36 months, her usual clients—restaurants, catering businesses, casinos—went directly to culinary schools to find prospective employees, instead of enlisting her services. "I get resumes all day," she said. "We're getting all the workers and we're not getting the work."

Reyes' experience parallels that of Derek Siegel, sales and staffing manager at the Chicago branch of Food Team Inc., a national full-service staffing company.

"There definitely was a decline in demand in January and February and most of March," Siegel remarked. "Food services are pretty seasonal, but it was unusually slow."In the eyes of some economists and market specialists, declining jobs in the employment-services sector means that Penny Phillips is right: It's time to identify those recession-proof industries because a recession is imminent if not already under way.

Emy Sok, an economist with the Division of Labor Force Statistics at BLS, indicated that a downturn at staffing agencies forecasts trouble.

"People view employment at staffing agencies as an indicator. If times are starting to turn bad, these are somewhat expendable employees…That's what you see with the last recession,” Sok said.

That last recession—which lasted from March 2001 to November 2001—saw a drastic reduction in the number of employment services employees. During the eight-month recession period, the number of employment-services employees declined 11 percent to 3.2 million in November from 3.6 million in March.

Furthermore, in the 12 months leading up to the start of the recession in March 2001, the number of employees in that sector dropped 5 percent.

With the most recent 2008 employment services data indicating a 4 percent drop in employment, people are beginning to wonder: Are we in a recession or aren't we?"We may very well be in one, but the National Bureau of Economic Research hasn't put a date on it yet," said Donna Zerwitz, director of public information at NBER, the organization responsible for officially declaring a recession. "By the time we date it—which means there's enough data received to be valid—we could be out of the recession because it takes us that long to be precise."

But whether or not NBER officially declares a recession in the near future, staffing agency employers are calling it like they see it.

"It is a reflection of the coming recession," Reyes opined about her employment problems at The Hospitality Staffing Network. "Different competitors are going through the same thing. We're all trying to catch the same customers and nobody's biting our bait."

If employment service industry professionals are unable to tap into recession-proof industries, their only alternative is to prepare for the eventual rebound.

Edie Clark, spokeswoman for the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, suggests that focusing now on ways to improve a business will help when the economy improves.
"We think that the small business that has focused on human resources practices during this downturn will benefit when the market begins to turn up," she remarked. "The small businesses that are really good are focused on HR and need to be because they need to be positioned for the upswing in the economy and the competiveness that brings."

But for now, with the economy still experiencing a downswing, staffing agencies wait.

"It's been pretty bad," Reyes said. "It's getting discouraging. How are we going to stay in business?"

Layoff toll rises to 960 workers

By NORMAN DE BONO, SUN MEDIA
Therm-O-Disc in St. Thomas has announced it is closing in one year, with the loss of 280 jobs. (Derek Ruttan, Sun Media)

The layoff toll in the London area just keeps climbing.

London automotive parts plant Qualtech will chop 50 jobs, just as St. Thomas parts-maker Presstran will lay off 280 workers Monday, Magna International, which owns both plants, announced yesterday.

The news comes one day after Therm-O-Disc in St. Thomas announced it is closing in one year, cutting 280 jobs, and Dana Corp. in St. Marys issued layoff notices to about 350 workers as it prepares to mothball that plant.

The toll is a stunning 960 jobs lost in the city and region's manufacturing sector in only two days.
"We are taking a hit, definitely we are taking a hit," Dave Kerr, president of the St. Thomas and District labour council, said yesterday. "We are losing jobs here and we have to start fighting to keep them."

Qualtech, which makes seats for Cami Automotive in Ingersoll, has cut the jobs effective April 21 because Cami has gone to two shifts, said Tracy Fuerst, director of corporate communications at Magna International.

In addition, Presstran has had to cut jobs as a result of the American Axle strike in the U.S. which has shut down GM plants, so other suppliers to the automaker, such as Magna, are also impacted.

Last month, Formet, also in St. Thomas, laid off 1,200 as a result of the American Axle strike.
"This is a real setback," said Bob Hammersley, president and chief executive of the St. Thomas Chamber of Commerce. "Our first concern is the people. It is not just about paycheques, but about their lives. This is felt throughout the community. These people buy groceries, make car and mortgage payments, it hurts everyone."

But Presstran and Formet will recall workers once the American Axle strike is settled. Still, the strike is the last thing the industry needs -- it has been hurt by slumping sales of U.S. vehicles and the strong Canadian dollar, said Scott Turner, executive vice-president of Presstran and Formet.

"The strike is dragging on now and it is damaging everyone, including this company. It is now problematic," said Turner.

"We have to find a way to buckle down and make a better product. I still think Ontario can be competitive, but we have to get focused on our costs."

Therm-O-Disc, in business since 1961, announced it is closing its plant in March 2009 to keep the company "globally competitive."

It has excess capacity in St. Thomas, said Dave Baldridge, a spokesperson.

"It's a result of tough economic pressures and not a reflection of the employees who have performed well for many years," said Baldridge, adding the site will be sold.

St. Thomas has been hit with A. Schulman Inc. closing this year, cutting 120 jobs, and more than 120 have been laid off at Lear Seating. Sterling Truck has also laid off about 650.

A.M.D., Citing a Slowdown, to Cut 1,650 Jobs

By JOHN MARKOFF

Published: April 8, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO — Advanced Micro Devices said it would cut about 1,650 workers — about 10 percent of its work force — because of deteriorating business conditions across its units around the globe.

The layoffs may be one of the first signs in Silicon Valley of an economic slowdown that has already affected other industries in the United States. As recently as December, many Silicon Valley executives were stating that they believed that high technology industries would be saved from a downturn.

Several analysts said that A.M.D., based in Sunnyvale, Calif., was facing problems largely because of a resurgent Intel, the world’s largest chip maker. A.M.D. lost market share to Intel last year and has also delayed shipping a new line of microprocessors, though it has said it has worked out those problems.

“I think this is mostly about A.M.D.,” said Martin Reynolds, a vice president at the Gartner Group, a market research firm. “I don’t think the tech economy has gone in the tank yet, but we will be watching closely as firms report in the coming weeks.”

There are some signs of a slowdown among tech companies. Intel has said weaker pricing for NAND flash memory would affect its profit margins. And on Monday, iSuppli, a market research firm, said it cut its forecast for the global NAND flash memory market. It expects revenue will grow 9 percent in 2008, a sharp revision from its earlier prediction of 27 percent growth. ISuppli blamed weaker consumer spending. It singled out less demand for flash memory from Apple, maker of iPods and iPhones, and SanDisk, the single biggest buyer of flash memory.

A.M.D. makes chips for computers and servers and has a minority stake in the flash memory maker Spansion.

A.M.D. also revised downward its financial guidance to Wall Street analysts, stating that it expects its revenue for the first quarter, which ended on March 29, to be about $1.5 billion. That is an increase of 22 percent over the first quarter of 2007 but a 15 percent decline from the previous quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast higher quarterly revenue, at $1.62 billion.

The company said it had not yet estimated the revamping charge it planned to take as a result of the new round of layoffs, which a spokesman said would take place before the beginning of September. A.M.D. said that it would offer details when it reported first-quarter financial results on April 17. Analysts have estimated a net loss of $263 million, or 42 cents a share.

The company, which has its most advanced factory in Dresden, Germany, and other offices in Austin, Tex., has about 16,800 employees.

Motorola Cutting 2600 Jobs, Raising Total Layoff Count to 10K

What a difference a few years make. Not too long ago, Motorola sat atop the telecom manufacturing world and now they’re continuing the free-fall by announcing a reduction of 2600 jobs. Combined with the previous layoffs, this raises the total number of jobs slashed to about 10K. Goodbye Moto?

Included in the 2,600 number are position cuts in Singapore announced earlier this week. Motorola said it will end manufacturing of mobile devices at its location in Singapore by year’s end, cutting about 700 employees, as it moves forward with plans to separate its mobile devices business.

The Job Market --April, 2008

I love the US government and how they compile statistics. Every month, before releasing their jobs report, they use a formula to adjust the numbers upward or downward -- twice. Once at the time of release. The second time may come a few months later. January often has the most severe job cuts of the year because the government assumptions are that businesses close after Christmas. April is often a good month because the assumptions are that business is expanding. It reminds me of the old Politburo process in the former Soviet Union. The system makes up numbers based on fantasy. So, for example after the subprime mess hit last August, US business continued to expand. Suddenly, this year, the numbers stink . . . all based upon the adjustments that the Bureau of Labor Statistics makes to change things . . . and the media eats this junk up and politicians speak like there is some reality to it. All I know, is that last year, firms that were impacted by subprime cuts tens of thousands of jobs and they didn't show up in the statistics; this year, with many of the cuts behind us, they are. It is kind of evening things out. Jeff Altman The Big Game Hunter Concepts in Staffing thebiggamehunter@cisny.com © 2008 all rights reserved. Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist. He is the author of “Get Yourself Hired NOW! The Big Game Hunter’s Guide to Head Hunting Your Next Job and Every Job After That” (in ebook and audio formats) and “Get Your Job Search Organized NOW!” (ebook) Both are available at www.getyourselfhiredNOW.com Register at the site and you will receive free copies of The International Job Board List and a Guide to Resume Writing. To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to www.jeffaltman.com. Explore some of The Big Game Hunter's products in "The Universe" series Job Search Universe: Search thousand of Job Boards and Corporate Job Sites for job leads at the same time The Resume Universe: Information about Resumes and Cover Letters The Consulting Universe: Search and Post Consulting Assignments and Consulting Jobs Self-Employment Universe: Business Opportunities and Work-At-Home The Diet Universe: Health & Wellness Information Personal Finance Universe: Taking Care of Your Money better Plus Search4Candidates.com: Refined Searching for Resumes and Candidate Leads Search4JobLeads.com: The site that recruiters use to find job leads VIP Personal Search: Hire Your Own VIP Personal Search Agent The Job Market Blog: Blogging and news about the job market since August 2001 4ITProfessionals: Search for jobs, resume services and post your resume—targeted on IT professionals HeadHuntYourNextJob.com: 4 Search Products in one place Indian Job Network: Network for Work in India

Planned Layoffs Drops 26%

Sun Country trimming pilots

FICO firm trimming staff

350 Dana workers given lay-off notices

The struggles of the North American auto industry have hit home in St. Marys.

Three-hundred-and-fifty workers at the Dana plant in the town have been given layoff notices.

The workers at the automotive parts plant were given 12 weeks' notice of the layoffs, which take effect at the end of June when a contract with Ford ends.

The company says it is working to try to find new contracts.

Triangle unemployment jumps to 4.3%

Unemployment in the Triangle rose a half-percentage point, to 4.3 percent, in the 12 months ending in February.

Data released Wednesday by the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina show that there were 36,296 unemployed people out of a total labor force of 846,597 in the seven-county Triangle region.

In February 2007, the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent, and 31,888 people were out of a job.

The figures, unlike the statewide numbers provided by ESC, are not adjusted for seasonal factors. The unadjusted seasonal employment figure across the state was 5.4 percent.

In the Raleigh-Cary area, ESC says, the largest year-over-year increase in employment came in professional and business services. The area has added 6,300 jobs in that field in the last 12 months.

The largest field of growth in the Durham area was government jobs. They increased by 3,400 year over year.

German unemployment 'falls'

Unemployment levels in Germany have plummeted to their lowest levels in over 15 years it has been revealed.

Rates of unemployment fell to by 0.2 per cent to 7.8 per cent in March from eight per cent in February the Federal Labour Agency in Nuremberg has revealed. This is its lowest level since 1992.

The upturn in the labour sector has been progressing systematically since spring 2006.

The number of people in employment who live in Germany has increased in February by 1.4 per cent from 12 months previously according to data from De Statis, the German Federal Statistics Office.

This increase in employment levels is the biggest in eight years since February 2000.

New data show strong labor market for scientists, engineers in U.S.

March jobless rate rises to 6%

U.S. economy loses 80,000 jobs

Canadian employment reaches record high

U.S. unemployment jumped in March

Chrysler's Layoff of Hundreds of IT Workers Brings U.S. Closer to Recession

The Detroit Free Press printed a follow-up story today about Chrysler's Wednesday announcement to outsource "hundreds" of IT jobs to Tata and Computer Sciences Corporation. (See my previous post.) Reporter Tim Higgins did not supply us with any substantially new information, aside from verification that it's mostly a cost-cutting move to save the company. (Interesting aside. In Michigan, they hire H-1B foreign workers to try to cut costs in order to save the company. In the rest of the country they hire H-1B's because of a perceived worker shortage. Hmmh.)As usual, the comments are the best part of the article. At this time, there appears to be more comments from IT professionals than in yesterday's story.What they are not telling us is exactly how Tata and Computer Sciences Corporation will be integrated into the new IT operations. One commenter said she used to work for CSC, and the pay and benefits were great! All I can say is that paying for great salaries and benefits does not fit into Chrysler's business plan. Chryslerberus CEO Bob Nardelli has never met a management trend that he didn't like, so don't look for any innovative ideas. If "Minimum Bob" (Autoextremist's Peter De Lorenzo's nickname for him) has read all of his CEO magazines, and I'm sure he has, he will allow Tata to bring in a swarm of L-1 visa employees from India, allow current Chrysler employees and contractors to train their L-1 replacements, allow a token number of Chrysler workers to get hired into Computer Sciences Corporation to mentor the inevitable H-1B's (who are subject to the more or less 65,000 annual U.S. visa cap), then shift as much of the work as possible back to India. A skeleton contingent of American workers will probably remain in the U.S. so some executive can point to the "jobs created" by this deal.The Detroit News, on the other hand, has not deemed the Chrysler/Tata outsourcing deal worthy for prominent front page mention on their homepage. (After much searching, I found it below the fold as a little headline under "Autos Insider". News reporter Eric Morath didn't add too much to the story, except he made it a little more clear that much of the work will be moved off-site, and, finally, (which, perhaps is a major story in itself) an admission in print that not only blue collar jobs but white collar jobs are leaving the state. Add a few more platitudes about the efficiency of outsourcing, and you've got yourself a dandy story.Notice instead that the Detroit News gave the most prominent space to yet another story about younger blue collar workers not being able to follow in their Dad's footsteps. I guess they couldn't put a headline like "All High Tech Jobs for Educated Workers are Leaving the State" right next to it.

Google to lay off 300 at DoubleClick

Google is laying off about 300 employees in its newly acquired DoubleClick ad business, according to a source familiar with the matter.
A Google spokesman said the company could not confirm the number of workers laid off.
“Since our acquisition of DoubleClick closed on March 11, we have been working to match and align DoubleClick employees in the U.S. with our organizational plan for the business,” the company said in a statement.
“As with many mergers, this review has resulted in a reduction in headcount at the acquired company,” the statement said. “Today, we are laying off some DoubleClick employees in the U.S. and placing others in transitional roles. We are confident that our combined organizational structure, along with the skills and experience of our new colleagues, will allow us to continue to offer great products and services to our customers.”
The layoffs were expected, with Chief Executive Eric Schmidt giving a warning in a blog posting last month.
The 300 layoffs represent about one-fourth of DoubleClick’s work force and it’s likely that additional workers outside the U.S. will also be let go.
Meanwhile, Google says it is splitting up Doubleclick’s Performics business unit into two: search marketing and affiliate marketing and will sell off the search marketing part.
That move too is not unexpected. Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land had called on Google to divest itself of the search engine marketing arm, saying that even if Google keeps its search engine operations completely separate from the search optimization arm there could be the appearance of impropriety and bias.
Apparently Google agreed.
“It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business,” the company wrote in a blog posting. “Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount to Google’s mission and core to the trust we ask from our users. For this reason, we plan to sell the Performics search marketing business to a third party. We believe this will allow us to maintain objectivity and the search marketing business to continue to grow and innovate and serve its customers.”
The layoff news was first reported by The New York Times.

Dell to Lay Off Another 5,600, Close Plant

It wasn't that long ago that Dell was handing out pink slips. Now news from the PC manufacturer is pointing to another $3 billion in cutbacks. The good news (as far as Dell employees are concerned) is that the cutbacks aren't starting right away. Lynn Tyson, Dell's VP of investor relations, tackled the details on one of the company's blogs:
"Now this does not happen over night," explained Tyson, "In fact we said we believe it will take three years to achieve an annualized savings of $3 billion. This means that before you adjust for growth, we believe our costs at the end of our fiscal 2011 will be $3 billion lower than at the end of fiscal 2008."
Naturally, the big question is what/who is getting the boot. According to a company release Dell is planning on:
Closing a desktop manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas.
Cutting 5,600 jobs
Selling/spinning off Dell Financial Services
Lowering manufacturing materials and device component costs
From the looks of it, the market isn't phased by Dell's proposed fat-trimming, but we'll have to wait and see if the other shoe drops at the company's Equity Analyst Meeting tomorrow.

Dell to Layoff 900

Just heard that Dell is laying off 900 workers in Austin. Not sure what department(s) are getting hit. I'm sure we'll hear more soon.Update: North Austin Desktop PC plant to be closed by end of 2008. This is part of worldwide cutbacks at Dell. The work might be moved to a newer plant in North Carolina.

Metro One to shut down call center, lay off 200

Metro One Telecommunications Inc. will shut down its Orlando call center and lay off 200 employees by May 20 as part of its exit from the wholesale directory assistance business.
Metro One (NASDAQ:INFO) will be shutting down its call centers in Orlando, Minneapolis, Charlotte, and Honolulu and layoff a total of 600 employees, who will receive severance packages based on their length of service.
The moves are expected to cost the company $3.6 million.
In addition, the company also will reduce the size of its headquarters staff in Beaverton, Ore., leaving it with 70 workers.
Metro One previously closed call centers in Long Island, N.Y., and Portland, Ore.
The Oregon-based company says it's getting out of the directory assistance business due to a lack of customers willing to pay enough to cover expenses and generate a return for shareholders. Metro One Telecommunications, which is an information services provider, says it will focus on its data and contact services business.
This isn't the first contraction for the company, which eliminated more than 2,000 workers between 2005 and 2006, when it consolidated 25 call centers into six locations.