The Job Market: A View from The Big Game Hunter, Jeff Altman

Television Broadcasts has confirmed it plans to lay off about 200 employees, with details to be announced in the next few days.

The layoff will affect various departments except for actors and show hosts. Termination letters will be sent starting on Monday.

External affairs deputy director Tsang Sing-ming said the production resources department will be the worst-hit.

Tsang said the layoffs are needed to maintain competitiveness. TVB has been recording surpluses for the past five years. 

Labels: Hong Kong, layoffs, Television Broadcasts

CTVglobemedia has just announced it will layoff 105 people in its Toronto TV division. The majority of the layoffs are from the former CHUM Ltd division that CTVglobemedia purchased for $1.7 billion.  CTVglobemedia spokesperson Bonnie Brownlee also added that the company will not make any more layoffs in 2008 and no comments were made concerning 2009. The layoffs are a direct result of the global financial crisis as the company tries to cut costs.

Labels: Canada, CTVglobemedia, layoffs, Ontario

ABX Air says it plans to lay off another 283 employees at the DHL Air Park over the next week.

ABX spokeswoman Beth Huber said Tuesday these permanent layoffs are in addition to the elimination of 158 jobs that ABX Air announced last week.

The latest cuts include ramp loaders, hardware technicians, sort supervisors and hazardous-materials specialists.

When an employee is laid off, the separation does not go into effect immediately, said Huber. In most instances, a layoff presently means the worker has two weeks remaining of employment, she said.

Although there have been rounds of layoffs announced the past two weeks, that does not mean future layoffs necessarily will come in a similar clockwork fashion, Huber said.

A driving factor determining the timing of layoffs involves ABX tracking the volume of DHL Express freight to be processed at the air park. That’s because ABX wants to retain a sufficient number of workers to keep providing excellent service to DHL, Huber said.

On Nov. 10, DHL Express said it will exit the U.S. domestic freight business and focus on its international packages to and from America.

Pickup and delivery of DHL’s U.S. domestic shipments will end Jan. 30.

Labels: ABX Air, layoffs

Reeling under the impact of the global economic crisis that has shrunk polymer demand, Rompetrol Petrochemicals plans to reduce polymer production for the next two months and temporarily lay off 130 employees from production and maintenance division, about 24% of its employees. This temporary step will also prevent polymer inventory build up. LDPE (low density polyethylene) plants are planned to be shut from December 10, 2008 to January 31, 2009, HDPE (high-density polyethylene) plants for a week longer, from December 1, 2008 to January 31 2009.

Labels: layoffs, Rompetrol Petrochemicals

Nearly 3,000 more Hoosiers are expected to lose their jobs starting early next year, thanks to a flurry of layoffs announced over the weekend.

Northwestern Indiana would take the biggest hit. About 2,444 employees at ArcelorMittal's steel plant in Burns Harbor learned Friday that they could be laid off indefinitely in January because of a slowdown in production.

In addition, five other companies across the state stand to lay off 500 workers.

The cuts include 92 marketing and sales positions at the Indianapolis office of Bluegreen Corp., a Florida-based vacation rental and time-share specialist.

ArcelorMittal said the recent drop-off in global steel production and the company's previously announced plan to reduce production in North America by 40 percent played into its decision.

Jim Robinson, director of United Steelworkers District 7, said the union is negotiating with ArcelorMittal to minimize the number of layoffs.

"Any discussion about the ultimate nature of what will happen is premature," Robinson said.

Several other companies on Friday informed the Indiana Department of Workforce Development of impending layoffs:

Accent Marketing Services in New Albany said it would cut 164 jobs by mid-January because of a lack of work.

Fleetwood's travel trailer and camper manufacturing operation in Crawfordsville said it would lay off 109 employees by mid-January.

Pennsylvania-based MI Windows and Doors' metal manufacturing facility in Lebanon will lay off 133 workers, though the cuts will take as long as a year to complete.

Hartford Metal Products in Hartford City, which is being sold and closing, will shed 38 employees.

In October, Indiana's unemployment rate was 6.4 percent, lower than the nation's and the rates of surrounding states.

Labels: Accent Marketing Services, ArcelorMittal, Bluegreen Corp, Fleetwood Enterprises, Indiana, layoffs

DAVID E. MALLOY

The Herald-Dispatch

Labels: AK Steel, layoffs

RICHMOND — The Virginian-Pilot will cut at least 125 positions, about 10 percent of its work force, mostly by laying off staff and closing or selling affiliated publications.

Labels: Landmark Media Enterprises LLC, layoffs, The Virginian-Pilot, Virginia

Google has been quietly laying off staff and up to 10,000 jobs could be on the chopping block according to sources. Since August, hundreds of employees have been laid off and there are reports that about 500 of them were recruiters for Google.

By law, Google is required to report layoffs publicly and with the SEC however, Google has managed to get around the legal requirement. In fact, one of the ways Google was able to meet Wall Street’s Q3 earnings expectations was by trimming “operational” expenses.

Google reports to the SEC that it has 20,123 employees but in reality it has 30,000. Why the discrepancy? Google classifies 10,000 of the employees as temporary operational expenses or “workers”. Google co-founder Sergey Brin said, “There is no question that the number (of workers) is too high”.

The classification affords Google several advantages such as:

1) Hire full time employees without full time benefits. The classification enables Google to pay them above minimum wage, provide no health benefits, no insurance coverage, no stock options, and no offer of permanent employment.

2) By under-reporting actual employee headcount, Google looks good to Wall Street.  A low headcount gives the illusion that productivity per employee is more than it actually is, which in turn looks good in the eyes of Google shareholders which is ultimately good for Google’s stock in the short term.

So, how does Google get around the SEC requirement regarding material information? Google has hundreds of lawyers figuring out how not to get caught. One of them is by moving workers from job to job every few months so that their status remains temporary. That is why you probably have never spoken to the same person twice at Google and that is also why there is somebody new on the job and most times you know more about their job than they do.

A bulk of the workers have been there for up to five years and many know others who had been there for seven years or more moving from job to job.

There is no question the economic downturn is hitting Google hard and with the slowdown in online advertising, their troubles are just beginning.

Labels: Google, layoffs

ArcelorMittal will be cutting only 500 jobs instead of the 2400 originally planned or one of their steel mills in Indiana

Labels: ArcelorMittal, Indiana, layoffs

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The sharp retrenchment in national labor markets continues to take its toll in New Jersey. The state lost 6,000 payroll jobs in October, bringing total job losses to 27,200 this year. Private-sector employment in New Jersey over the same period has fallen by 25,000 jobs. The state’s unemployment rate increased to 6 percent from 5.8 percent a month ago — a level not reached since July 2003, when labor markets were still declining from the recession of 2001. The separate household survey indicated the number of unemployed in New Jersey increased by 9,200 in October, and by 85,300 for year. Also, the broad-based nature of the job declines last month indicate that the recession has spread beyond the original sectors of weakness (construction, manufacturing and finance) to affect nearly all areas of the economy.

The largest job losses in October occurred in the trade, transportation and utilities sector (down 2,500 jobs), with most of the losses occurring in retail trade. This is due to the precipitous decline in consumer spending in the last two months. The leisure and hospitality sector, also heavily reliant on consumer spending, was also affected significantly, with a loss of 1,600 jobs. Manufacturing jobs continued to plummet with a further loss of 2,000 jobs in October, bringing the decline for the year to 11,800 jobs. This represents a drop of 3.8 percent, the highest rate of decrease of any business sector. Employment also fell in finance (down 700 jobs) as the ongoing restructuring of the financial sector continues to hurt New Jersey. Construction employment continued to decline, by 200 jobs, as did other services (down 300 jobs), and information services (down 200 jobs).

Only two private business sectors gained jobs in October. Business and professional services added 200 jobs in October, the same gain as in September. However, prior to September, employment in the sector had increased by 2,700 jobs. The small increase over the last two months indicates that there has been a sharp deceleration in job growth in this large sector. A likely factor behind this is a decline in temporary employment, often one of the first labor market casualties in a recession. The other private business sector that gained employment was education and health, which increased by 1,200 jobs. Public sector employment edged up by 100 jobs.

One important caveat to the October report is that given the accelerating and steep changes that are occurring in labor markets, significant revisions to the state employment data are likely at the end of the year.

Nevertheless, both the payroll survey and the household survey are clearly indicating that the national recession is echoing loudly in New Jersey. 

Labels: layoffs, New Jersey

By Tim Gehret
Reporter
Published: November 24, 2008

The Lowcountry’s largest state employer will eliminate jobs.

MUSC president Dr. Ray Greenberg announced today he expects a hand full of layoff’s to come after the holidays. Who will go is still undecided.
In the meantime, more than 1,200 MUSC employees will face a four-day mandatory furlough, or days off without pay, over four months starting in January.

“It is a big deal to employees who are living at the edge,” Greenberg said. “We struggled to keep it as low as possible.

The university has a total 5,000 employees. Which means more than 3,000, primarily high paid researchers, will be unaffected.
News 2 asked why the administration could not furlough all 5,000 employees for one day instead of a select 1,200 for four?

According to Greenberg researchers make money for MUSC.
“We can’t afford to have them not working. If they’re not here and not producing income, we lose more than we lose than from the state cuts.

He says the layoffs will only affect a hand full of employees. He clarified that projection as being around 10. He would not specify which positions saying the state has to approve those cuts.

While they wait, work must continue. That’s why a three day medical conference set for next month in the Virgin Islands will go on as planned. At least three top administrators will meet in St. Croix to discuss health disparities, an area of research MUSC is known for around the world.
One big reason this is significant, during the last round of cuts, MUSC announced it was postponing travel.
While the timing is unfortunate, Greenberg says these events have the potential to generate a lot of private money for research. Regardless of how it may look to the people being laid off or furloughed, not going, he says “would be negative for the institution and for the individual careers of the faculty involved.”

Several agencies, corporations, and universities co-sponsor the conference and officials say it is not being paid for with state money.

“I can assure you we don’t take any single day of furlough lightly here,” he says.

Greenberg himself will take eight days off which means he will forfeit about $7,000 in state money. He will continue to earn is hospital salary which is 451 thousand extra dollars a year.

His total salary is close to $700,000 a year.

The furlough will affect the College of Nursing, Dental Medicine, Academic Affairs Office, Library and the Office of Finance and Administration.

Here’s how the savings are expected to break down. 

The furlough is expected to save more than $1,000,000, not filling the 80 vacant jobs is expected to save MUSC close to $4,000,000

Layoffs will save MUSC more than $300,000. Miscellaneous cuts of more than $2,000,000 bringing the total projected savings to more than $7,000,000 

Labels: layoffs, MUSC Furloughs 1200

United States Gypsum has filed notice with the state that it will layoff 133 employees at its Jacksonville plant at the end of 2008

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Labels: automakers, Japan, layoffs

Labels: Boeing, layoffs

By MARCUS RAUHUT Staff writer

JLG Industries was hit by its third round of layoffs in five months.

The company said last week the latest round of downsizing will affect 500 employees worldwide.

"With financial instability and credit issues, our end markets, construction markets, are largely impacted. That's persisted on a global basis," said Kirsten Skyba, JLG's vice president, global marketing. "It's been a very challenging year."

The aerial access equipment manufacturer previously announced layoffs in July and again in August. Skyba said the three rounds affect a total of 1,400 employees, or about 31 percent of the global work force of 4,500 people.

The latest round of layoffs, which began Friday and continues through January, affects both production and administrative positions. 

"Economic conditions have continued to their unprecedented deterioration since mid-September, leading construction markets to intensify their slide over the past two months. We've seen a particularly strong downturn in Europe, which has now followed the slowdown in North America," said Craig Paylor, JLG president and executive vice president of Oshkosh Corp.

JLG has facilities in McConnellsburg, Shippensburg and Bedford, as well as North Dakota; Ohio; Maasmechelen, Belgium; Tonneins, France; and Medias, Romania. Skyba said the number of affected employees at each facility is not available, but the majority of downsizing affects North American operations.

There's no question these are tougher economic times and the national and state unemployment pictures are looking worse.

The U.S. Labor Department said this week that new claims for unemployment hit a 16-week high as President Bush signed an extension of jobless benefits into law on Friday.

Also this week, the state Department of Labor and Industry said job levels hit a 20-month low in October. The job losses came primarily from manufacturing and the trade, transportation and utilities sector.

While Pennsylvania's economy has fared better than much of the country, unemployment tied a five-year high in October. Unemployment in Franklin and Fulton counties also recently hit a five-year high. Unemployment claims have been significantly higher this year in both counties.

Amid announcements of swelling unemployment and layoffs this week, there was a bright spot for JLG. The company broke ground Tuesday for a new facility in Tianjin, China.

"Long-term, the more you can balance your geographic opportunities and market segments, the better it positions you to weather this downturn, which has hit many companies," Skyba said.

Skyba said JLG currently does very little business in China and the company saw "a very significant growth opportunity." She said the decision to build in China was not based on outsourcing or lesser labor rates.

"The reality is for us to sell more products, we're at a disadvantage because of shipping rates. It puts us at a price disadvantage. The intent is to have a better competitive position to grow in Asia," she said. "If you look at JLG's history, our production is typically linked to areas where we build business. As Europe's grown, we've built facilities there. This is the next step JLG is taking."

While the North American and European construction markets have seen a significant slowdown, China is seeing growth.

"Look at the amount of construction that is taking place in terms of transforming a country and society that is the largest population on the planet. It's remarkable the amount of money being spent. It just makes sense to be there," said L. Michael Ross, president of the Franklin County Area Development Corp.

The Tianjin facility is scheduled for completion in early 2010.

----------

Marcus Rauhut can be reached at mrauhut@publicopinionnews.com or 262-4752.

Labels: JLG Inustries, layoffs

County's jobless figure is highest since 1995

Labels: California, unemployment

Rising unemployment across the nation reveals a pervasive downturn that is spreading at an accelerating pace.

In data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 12 states, including Florida, Idaho, North Carolina and Illinois, reported a rise of at least two percentage points in unemployment rates over the past year.

For many states, the pace of decline is more severe than during the 2001 recession. Job losses have spread beyond construction and manufacturing to service sectors such as tourism, hospitality and professional and business services.

"It's remarkable how fast the unemployment rate is increasing" in several states, said Luke Tilley, a senior economist at IHS Global Insight. "We are now seeing the full ripple effects."

In October, month-over-month unemployment rates increased in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Unemployment rates held steady in seven states and fell in five. Many economists forecast the national unemployment rate, currently at 6.5%, will top 8% in the next few months.

The weakest states are those with concentrations of construction and manufacturing jobs. Michigan and Rhode Island, both heavily dependent on manufacturing, posted October unemployment rates of 9.3%, highest in the nation. Ohio's rate rose to 7.3% from 7.2% in September.

Unemployment generally was higher in Western states, which have been hit particularly hard by the housing bust, and the Midwest, which continues to bleed manufacturing jobs. But joblessness affected the entire country, even touching energy-producing states that had been resilient up to this point.

Florida has lost 156,000 jobs over the past 12 months, but the weakness has spread beyond the state's housing industry. About half the losses were in the construction sector, but the state also lost 47,000 jobs in the professional and business service sector, 38,000 in trade, transportation and utilities, and 20,000 in manufacturing.

Unemployment rose throughout the Sunbelt, as falling home prices and surging foreclosures continued to weigh on employers. Florida and Georgia both posted unemployment rates of 7%, while Nevada's rose to 7.6% and California to 8.2%.

While Sunbelt states have been buffeted by the housing bust and subsequent falloff in consumer spending, they may have further to fall. In Florida, Arizona and Nevada, construction jobs account for between 6.5% and 9.4% of employment, compared with 5.3% nationally, according to economists at Goldman Sachs. An exception is California, where construction employment is now in line with the national average.

Energy states remain the lone bright spot, but not necessarily for long. Wyoming and South Dakota had the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, at 3.3%. North Dakota's unemployment rate fell to 3.4%. Falling energy prices have removed an economic buffer from many of those states. Unemployment rose 0.5 percentage point to 5.6% in Texas; in Oklahoma, the rate rose to 4.3% from 3.8% last month.

Write to Conor Dougherty at conor.dougherty@wsj.com

Labels: layoffs, unemployment, USA

Thomas L. Gallagher
Web Editor

ABX Air is cutting jobs all over the country.

In addition to the 8,000 workers at a package-sorting hub operated for DHL in Wilmington, Ohio, as many as 3,500 employees may be affected at 16 regional hubs in the United States as the cargo airline responds to the loss of business from its primary customer, DHL Express.

DHL Express announced Nov. 10 that it will end its domestic shipping operations in the United States by the end of January, and close its U.S. hubs. As many as 9,500 DHL employees will likely lose their jobs as the company ceases operations in the United States.

ABX layoffs in Ohio began Nov. 14. ABX Air said in a filing with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services it will cut 158 jobs there by mid-January. The layoffs will include 33 pilots, two of whom are captains, and other hourly and salaried personnel. The state agency will administer a $3.9 million National Emergency Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor targeted at 386 workers affected by layoffs in the Wilmington Air Park area.

ABX will also close its Tom Andrews Road facility in Roanoke, Va., eliminating 73 jobs, effective Jan. 13. The company submitted a notice Nov. 14 to the Governor's Office for Workforce Development.

The company notified the Washington Employment Security Department's Dislocated Worker Unit on Nov. 14 that the ABX Air distribution center in the Port of Chehalis, Wash., halfway between Portland and Seattle, is scheduled to close permanently Jan. 13, eliminating 52 jobs.

Labels: ABX Air, layoffs

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E-mail dayton@bizjournals.com. Call (937) 528-4400.

Labels: mass layoffs, Ohio

By James P. Miller | Tribune staff reporter

2:07 PM CST, November 20, 2008

Labels: Illinois, unemployment

An associated Press Story says that New York State only lost 14000 jobs in October, 2008.

Labels: New York, unemployment

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In case you haven't noticed, finding a job has become more complicated. If you're trying to find a job in financial services, you probably have little confidence in the health of your potential employer.

Labels: December 2008, The Job Market

Brian Caulfield, 11.26.08, 04:53 PM EST

When is a layoff not a layoff? When it involves contract workers.

Denizens of Silicon Valley had gotten accustomed to seeing people on bikes with videocams, gathering footage of local streets for Google maps.

But the streets are going to be a bit emptier now.

Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news -people ) has begun cutting back its workforce by peeling off the thick layer of part-time and full-time contractors who had become the worker ants for some of Google's most high profile projects. Among them: people who had provided the video footage for Google maps and people scanning page after page of books for Google's book search project.

Don't expect to see any headlines about these cutbacks, however. Although companies are required to report layoffs of full-time workers, they can take the size of their contract worker pool up and down with impunity. Workers who get their jobs through temporary employment agencies are often asked to sign contracts that prohibit them from disclosing when an employer has let them go. Together that means Google--and other Silicon Valley companies--can quietly trim their expenses and head count with hardily a ripple of media attention.

When asked about reports that Google was reducing the size of its workforce, a Google spokesperson pointed toward an interview with the Mercury News in October, where co-founder Sergey Brin said Google would try to trim its pool of contract workers, which at the time numbered 10,000.

Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry says his contacts are telling him Google has let go 3,000 contract employees. He also figures 300 full-time employees have left as Google closes regional offices and employees opt not to move to Google's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

These moves, however, may not be enough. Until housing prices drop to 2001 levels and oil hits $25 a barrel again--or incomes go up dramatically--there won't be enough discretionary income to keep Google's advertising-driven business growing, Chowdhry figures. "Because Google is the leader for the consumer Internet, their success is their curse," Chowdhry says.

The search engine itself can't be faulted, to be sure. Google owned 63.1% of U.S. searches in October, up from 62.9% during September, according to a report released this week by online traffic tracker comScore.

Google, however, may be too big not to suffer as the economy chills. Chowdhry figures Google's current quarter sales will grow 15% over the year-ago period, and next quarter Google could actually see sales drop by 3% compared with the year-ago period. Unless the situation for U.S. consumers improves in a hurry, Chowdhry sees Google cutting 10% to 15% of its full-time workforce next year.

Labels: consulting, contractors, Google, layoffs

By Gabriel Madway

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The economic slowdown has finally begun to hit home in Silicon Valley, with tech companies large and small shedding jobs in advance of what is widely expected to be a difficult year.

The scene may remind some of 2001 and 2002, when the Internet bubble exploded and dumped hundreds of thousands of engineers in the area onto the unemployment rolls.

But the situation is far different this time, with the financial and housing sectors to blame, not tech. And few, at least at this point, see the layoffs having a long-term impact on the Valley's fabled reputation as a cradle of innovation and risk-taking.

"In 2001, we were the epicenter, we were the cause," said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. "Now it's a world-wide recession event."

Although layoffs have just begun in the Valley -- with more expected -- many say employment will hold up better than it did after the dot-com bust, even as the world suffers through the most paralyzing financial meltdown in a generation.

Even so, that provides little comfort for the growing ranks of unemployed IT professionals struggling to get by.

Vivek Sharma, a business systems analyst from India who is in the U.S. on an H-1B work visa, said he was working as an independent contractor on a project for Macys.com before the company abruptly cut the cord in October.

"The job market is completely dead," Sharma said.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE CREEPS UP

The unemployment rate in Santa Clara county, home to Silicon Valley, rose to 6.9 percent in October from 6.5 percent in September. That's above the national level of 6.5 percent but below California's jobless rate of 8.2 percent.

The numbers will likely get worse. The past few weeks have seen near daily job cut announcements from Valley companies including Sun Microsystems Inc (JAVA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Applied Materials Inc (AMAT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), KLA-Tencor Corp (KLAC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), National Semiconductor Corp (NSM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Lam Research Corp (LRCX.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Smaller private companies are also wielding the ax, with high-profile names such as electric car start-up Tesla Motors and social-networking site LinkedIn shedding workers.

Employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas has tallied 140,422 job cuts overall by technology firms through October 31, up 31 percent from all of 2007. More than two-thirds of this year's layoffs have come since July.

Still, that is a far cry from 2001, when the technology industry slashed 695,581 jobs.

After the tech bubble burst, Santa Clara County alone lost more than 200,000 jobs, 20 percent of its job base. The county's annual unemployment rate hit 8.4 percent in 2002.

But the tech sector has matured a great deal since then, some say, perhaps leaving it less vulnerable to such a shock.

"Technology is really not the center of the storm this time," said Challenger Chief Executive John Challenger. He said IT has become more embedded into most companies' DNA and less discretionary, making technology spending less less volatile.

UNCERTAINTY FOR 2009

Next year is shaping up to be a difficult one for Silicon Valley, with more layoffs expected.

A recent survey of more than 500 top executives in the San Francisco Bay Area by the Bay Area Council revealed that 40 percent plan to cut their workforce in the next six months.

"Companies just aren't sure what the next six months are going to look like, so we're seeing companies cancel searches, withdrawing offers," said Jeff Hocking, managing director of the San Francisco office for executive recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International (KFY.N: Quote,Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

In addition, he said people who already have jobs are now more difficult to poach. "The cost of change has gone up."

However, there are still bright spots in the gloom. Hocking said the firm continues to have success in recruiting executives to clean-technology firms.

Levy sees the same scenario. "Venture capital is holding even and probably in the intermediate term poised to grow with all the alternative energy (investment)," he said.

A Dow Jones VentureSource study released last month showed that VC investment in renewable energy leaped 71 percent from the previous quarter, even as investment in information technology fell 10 percent.

(Editing by Brian Moss)

Labels: layoffs, Silicon Valley, technology jobs

November 14, 2008 (Computerworld) The economic downturn that has resulted in tens of thousands of layoffs in the housing and financial services sectors is now bearing down on the tech industry. The job cuts announced by Sun Microsystems Inc. on Friday are only the latest in the growing toll.
Sun plans to cut as many 6,000 jobs, or about 18% of its workforce, a move that raises the total number of technology-related job cuts announced so far this year to more than 140,000, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a Chicago-based outplacement consulting firm that tracks layoff announcements by sector.
Most of the job cuts have taken place in the past few months, with nearly two-third of them, or 89,500, occurring since July.

At the current rate, Challenger is forecasting tech-sector job cuts totaling 180,000 by the end of the year.
The rapid increase in job losses follows an increasingly pessimistic spending forecast. Research firm IDC said this week that IT spending growth in the U.S. will be less than 1% in 2009, a sharp drop from an August forecast that projected a 4.2% increase next year.
In 2007, the number of job-cut announcements in the tech sector totaled 107,300; in 2006, it was 131,200; and in 2005, it hit 174,744.
The worst year was 2001, the year the dot-com bubble burst, when nearly 700,000 tech jobs took place, according to Challenger.
Companies that announced layoffs this month include Santa Clara, Calif.-based Applied Materials Inc., which this week unveiled plans to reduce its global workforce by about 12%, or 1,800 workers. National Semiconductor Corp., said it is cutting 330 jobs.
John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement that by the end of 2008, "we may also see cuts from Cisco Systems, Qualcomm and Nokia, all of whom are reporting falling sales amid the weakening economy."
One of the largest cuts announced so far this year came in September after the merger of Hewlett-Packard Co. and Electronic Data Systems Corp. HP said in September that it planned to cut as many as 25,000 employees as a result of the merger.

Labels: layoffs, Sun Microsystems, technology jobs

The bulk of job losses at tech firms have occurred since July

Forbes and TV Guide separately unveiled sweeping cutbacks yesterday, while The New York Times Co. shut down its critically acclaimed sports magazine Play.

Three-year-old Play, which was an insert into its Sunday paper, published 13 issues since its inception. Mark Bryant, the one-time editor of Outside who was Play's editor-in-chief, blamed the closure on the deteriorating ad picture.

"It comes down to the same thing that seems to be happening on an almost daily basis around the media business," he said.

He said the few editorial staffers at the magazine are being absorbed into other parts of the Times.

TV Guide staff cuts involve 33 people in New York and Radnor, Pa. Deputy Editor Leslie van Buskirk was the highest ranking editorial person ousted in the cutbacks.

Meanwhile, Forbes laid off 43 people, most of whom were on the business side.

As part of the Forbes shakeup, the business and marketing staff of the flagship Forbes magazine and forbes.com Web site will now be under one management team. A similar arrangement might be in the offing for the editorial side, though such moves might be put off until next year.

As part of the changes, Web site forbesautos.com is being discontinued. Matthew De Paula, its editor, was among those let go Friday. Forbestraveler.com will lose three people as part of a scaling back of that Web site.

The combined print and Web site business operation will be split among three groups: Brand intelligence, led by Kevin Gentzel, the former top ad sales executive at forbes.com, who will now carry the title president and group publisher of Forbes Media; the integrated solutions group, led by Mike Woods; and the Forbes media sales and service group, led by Avery Stirratt and Robert Pietsch, who will serve as co-presidents and chief advertising officers.

keith.kelly@nypost.com

Labels: Forbes, layoffs, TV Guide

By DAN MANGAN and PETER HOLLEY

Posted: 4:37 am
November 18, 2008

Citigroup will slash a staggering 53,000 jobs - the second-largest cut ever by a US company - because of punishing losses and a reeling economy, the financial giant announced yesterday.

The massive job cuts, which will shrink New York-based Citigroup's workforce by about 15 percent, comes just two months after the banking behemoth finished trimming 23,000 positions.

About half of the new cuts will come through layoffs and attrition. The other half will come from the sale of units.

There was no indication how many Citigroup jobs in the New York area will be eliminated. The worldwide cuts, which will leave the company with about 300,000 workers, are expected to begin in early 2009.

Citigroup has lost $20.3 billion over the past year.

To compensate, Citigroup said it will cut expenses by as much as 20 percent in 2009, when it expects to spend about $50 billion, as opposed to the nearly $62 billion it spent over the past year. The firm has tapped into $25 billion in capital offered by the US government's financial rescue.

CEO Vikram Pandit yesterday told employees that 2009 will be "difficult" for customers, but said Citigroup has been "getting fit" to deal with more austere times.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo criticized Citigroup for not committing to eliminating year-end bonuses for top executives, as the Goldman Sachs firm announced Sunday.

Citigroup chairman Win Bischoff did not rule out eliminating bonuses.

dan.mangan@nypost.com

Labels: Citigroup, layoffs