According to AP: “Staring at 533,000 lost jobs, economists were anything but hopeful. Since the start of the recession last December, the economy has shed 1.9 million jobs, and the number of unemployed people has increased by 2.7 million — to 10.3 million now out of work.
Some analysts predict 3 million more jobs will be lost between now and the spring of 2010 — and that the once-humming U.S. economy could stagger backward at a shocking 6 percent rate for the current three-month quarter.”
According to San Francisco Business Times: “With the pace of Bay Area layoffs increasing, particularly in the East Bay, workforce retraining efforts are also gathering steam.
Large-scale job cuts have accelerated with the closure of department store chain Mervyns’ Hayward corporate office and eight East Bay locations, and the acquisition of Longs Drug Stores Corp. by CVS Caremark Corp., with the loss of 800 Longs corporate jobs. This week, electronics retailer Circuit City Inc. said it would close 155 stores nationally, including six in the East Bay.
These are among the region’s biggest layoffs since last year, when job losses were focused on the home lending industry. Roy Bertuccelli, a program financial specialist at the Alameda County Workforce Investment Board in Hayward, said the last three weeks have been “extremely unusual. … All sectors of the economy are slowing down.”
Meanwhile, green industries, health care and biotech continue to hire. Bertuccelli is seeking to retrain workers to match up with continued demand from “sunrise” industries.”
According to NYTimes: “Sezmi, the company with a bold plan to reinvent television for the Internet age, laid off 20 percent of its staff today, or around 20 employees, in what its president and chairman Phil Wiser described as an acknowledgment of tough economic times.
Once a secretive start-up called Building B, Sezmi is aiming to build a comprehensive television service it can provide to mid-tier telephone companies that need to offer their customers a television option. The company has built a set-top box with an integrated DVR and a unique interface that combines Internet channels with regular programming. It has also designed a hybrid distribution network that involves sending high-definition television over spectrum it licenses from local television broadcasters.”
According to CNNMoney: “As the faltering economy forces companies to cut back, employee perks are among the first things to go. And along with free coffee in the break room, the next thing your employer might axe is its contribution to your retirement savings plan.
About 84% of companies in the U.S. offered employees a 401(k) match as of last year according to Watson Wyatt, a benefits consulting firm.”
According to San Jose Mercury News: “The number of people looking for work in Silicon Valley was up sharply in October, sending the unemployment rate to 6.9 percent — still far below California’s jobless rate of 8.2 percent.“
According to The Daily News: “The University of Texas Medical Branch campus, where a chorus of ambulance sirens once was constant and thousands of workers conducted the daily business of keeping a 550-bed hospital running, was somber and quiet Tuesday as the first of 3,000 people learned they no longer had jobs.
Most had worked at John Sealy Hospital, where workers will take the brunt of the massive cut.
Many had never worked any place except the medical branch.
Some who had held out hope their jobs would be spared sat in disbelief at the news. Others, minutes after being dismissed, attended classes to brush up their job-seeking skills.
Then, there were those who didn’t yet know. They waited in dread to enter rooms where their supervisors would deliver the news.
The University of Texas System regents last week authorized cutting up to 3,800 full-time equivalent positions after Hurricane Ike devastated the island campus that had employed 8,000 people.”
According to AP: “Citing the weak global economy and reduced demand, International Paper Co. has closed its pulp mill in northeastern Louisiana, terminating 550 employees.”
Fortune: “I was thinking about the financial mess the other day and I came up with this theory. I’m wary of it because it’s comforting, even uplifting, and by definition any economic supposition that has a happy ending is suspect. So with that caveat here goes:
I remember talking to a wise man at the end of the last decade who was pointing out to me how much the market had gone up during the 1990s and how stocks couldn’t possibly continue to go up at that rate. The market’s historical annual mean gain is about 8%, and yet between 1990 and 2000 the market had climbed some 15% per annum.” (full story)
Fortune: “It’s not easy if you’re a candidate being grilled by a big panel, but you can make it work for you. Plus, using LinkedIn to boost your job search.
..I’ve been working with a recruiter on finding my next job, and he just told me that one possibility (an opening for a manufacturing manager with a midsized company) will require that I undergo a panel interview, meaning an interview conducted by a group of prospective colleagues and bosses, all in the room..” (full story)
According to San Jose Mercury News: “The imploding economy has widened the projected hole in San Jose’s budget next year to more than $59 million, city officials said Thursday, making layoffs virtually certain and burying Mayor Chuck Reed’s hopes for eliminating chronic deficits in his first term.Though city voters this month maintained two existing phone taxes at reduced rates — one of which was set to expire next year — and some employee groups have agreed to take lower raises, City Manager Debra Figone said “everything else has worsened.”
“At this point in time, I can’t see how we can avoid layoffs,” Figone said. City union leaders had no immediate response.”
According to AP: “State officials say California’s unemployment rate jumped to 8.2 percent in October from 7.7 percent in September. The jobless rate announced today by the California Employment Development Department was up from 5.7 percent just a year earlier.
The agency said the number of people unemployed in California topped 1.5 million — up by 95,000 over the month, and up by 487,000 compared with October last year. The U.S. unemployment rate also rose in October — to 6.5 percent.”
According to CNN: “As the economic outlook worsens, job cut announcements have come in hard and fast this week from businesses across the nation.
In all, employers have announced in excess of 110,000 job cuts thus far in November – over 60,000 of which were announced this week alone. Though many of the job cuts represent global figures or won’t take place until next year, the ever-worsening job scene is an ominous sign before this month’s payroll figures are announced in two weeks.”
Sign Waver job only
Photo: CrisisMonitor
According to CNN: “Congress passed legislation late Thursday to extend the period of government assistance to Americans struggling in the shrinking job market.
The bill, which was already approved by the House, is expected to be quickly signed by President Bush.
The measure helps people whose benefits have recently expired, extending benefits by seven weeks in most states and 13 weeks in states with unemployment higher than 6%.
Workers typically get 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, and it’s not uncommon for the government to extend that during economic slowdowns.”
According to NY Times (05/21/2008): “An analyst at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Murti has become the talk of the oil market by issuing one sensational forecast after another. Mr. Murti remembers the pain of the oil shocks of the 1970s. But he is bracing for something far worse now: He foresees a “super spike” — a price surge that will soon drive crude oil to $200 a barrel.”
According to CNN Money (11/20/2008): “crude futures fell $4 to settle at $49.62 a barrel, the lowest settle price since May 23, 2005”.
LayoffBlog.com comment: “Clean up your locker and hit the road, Mr. Murti”.
LayoffBlog.com 