Review of U.S. layoffs through November 2009
Is the United States recession really over? This layoff roundup summarizes major events as unemployment continues to rise:
America Online (AOL) layoffs began with 100 staffers losing their jobs. Time Warner is spinning off AOL. Overall, 1,000 of AOL’s roughly 6,000-member workforce could lose their jobs, but as of right now 100 people are unemployed.
In November Microsoft, which already layed off 5000 workers, plans 800 more job cuts to adjust to economic conditions. Most of the first 5000 are now unemployed. Some jobs are outside the United States.
Bus manufacturer IC Corporation laid off 300 workers in 2008, an additional 170 in March of this year and will now lay off 477 employees in Conway Georgia, perhaps moving jobs to a non-union facility in Tulsa Oklahoma.
Ameren Corp. said Friday that it laid off more than 50 non-union employees this week as part of the company’s move to eliminate about 300 jobs by the end of the year. These job losses are in addition to summer layoffs totaling about 145 positions at Ameren.
Kolbe & Kolbe Millwork Co., Inc. announced today that it is laying off 334 of its production and office employees.
Sprint said it will eliminate 2,000 to 2,500 positions, or about 6 percent of its total workforce, during the fourth quarter. The company said the reduction “impacts positions companywide” and includes cuts in the company’s wholesale organization that were announced earlier this month.
There is bad news for Kansas City, also from Sprint. Sprint Nextel today said the company will layoff 8,000 employees, a move that’s likely to include deep cuts in the Kansas City area. The 8,000 reductions include 850 positions to be eliminated under a voluntary separation plan.
NetJets Inc. announced that it will lay off nearly 500 pilots as the new managements tries to deal with the prolonged economic downturn. The company has more than 3,000 pilots worldwide and majority of these pilots are based in the United States (US).
GTC Biotherapeutics of Framingham Massachusetts said it will reduce its work force from 154 to 109 people.
Time Inc. also recently announced plans to cut 400-500 positions, including 280 by the end of January 2010, according to a report in The New York Times.
In a previous article we wrote about Johnson and Johnson’s decision to lay off up to 7 percent of its workforce, or approximately 8000 people. Johnson & Johnson earlier this year cut about 900 jobs from its U.S. pharmaceutical unit.
Fox Sports in reporting that once the NASCAR season ends the sport will be laying off more employees than they did last season. The number of layoffs predicted was not given.
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In Puerto Rico more than 7,000 government employees are scheduled to be laid off this week because of a budget deficit will keep their jobs until next year, however, in May the government dismissed more than 7,800 workers in the first round of layoffs. Courts stalled 7000 additional layoffs until 2010.
Nokia Siemens Networks could lay off more than 4500 of its workers as part of a cost-cutting drive. While cuts are not in the United States the company owns T-Mobile.
Disk drive component maker Hutchinson Technology cut more than 40 percent of its Midwest workforce since last fall. Hutchinson Technology plans to move their operation in Thailand. The majority of the layoffs — about 950 — were at a plant in Hutchinson. A plant in Plymouth, Minn. lost about 50 workers. Facilities in Sioux Falls, S.D. and Eau Claire, Wis., had a combined cut of roughly 400 jobs. Firings were effective immediately.
Comcast cut approximately 45 to 50 people. Comcast owns the Versus channel and is currently in negotiations to purchase NBC Universal from General Electric.
The health industry experienced fewer mass layoffs over the past few months, although the number of layoffs is still high compared with past years.
The Baltimore Sun now has 150 journalists, down from 400. The Los Angeles Times had a staff of more than 1,100 but the present total has been cut nearly in half.
YRC Worldwide Inc. (Yellow Freight) on Friday reported another sizable loss and another round of layoffs. YRC will lay off about 900 more nonunion employees companywide.
Officials with King TeleServices confirmed nearly 1000 layoffs at a facility in Gloversville New York. The population of Gloversville was only 15,413 in 2000.
We previously reported on International Paper. The company just announced plans to lay off 1,600 workers because of slack demand for paper. 1100 cuts were in Franklin Virginia. The town has a population of 8594.
For many, finding reemployment is vital. In smaller communities like Franklin Virginia and Gloversville doing so may be more difficult. Nominal figures reflect how one job affects five others. Conversely with enough job losses a trickle-down effect is frightening.
General Motors Co. does not plan any deep job cuts. The automaker still has too many hourly workers and could permanently eliminate some of the 6,000 to 7,000 workers currently on layoff.
U.S. employers initiated 1,776 extended mass layoff actions in the third quarter this year, the highest third-quarter total since the Labor Department began its mass-layoff data series in 1995. A mass layoff is defined as 50 or more employees from a single workplace for a period of 30 days or more.
The list is extensive but does not include city, county, and state layoffs.
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