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To: long-gone who wrote (23721)	12/2/1998 8:26:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116756

Full story U.S. Firms Speed Job Cuts Despite Economic Strength 07:24 p.m Dec 02, 1998 Eastern By Simon Hirschfeld NEW YORK (Reuters) - While U.S. corporations try to play Santa Claus to their shareholders, for many workers they are more like the Grinch, with layoffs at some big companies accelerating just in time for Christmas. Despite a fairly robust domestic economy, job cuts are currently on track to make 1998 the worst year of the decade, as companies continue to cut costs to weather the global financial crisis. ''The market has very high expectations. The unrelenting search for profits is driving companies in an era when they can't raise prices and some of their potential for expansion overseas is being crimped,'' said John Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a firm that helps downsized workers find new jobs. Job cuts in 1998 are looking to beat 1993, the worst year of the decade so far, according to Challenger. He said job cuts could reach the 625,000 mark by the end of the year. Wednesday, cereal maker Kellogg Corp., electronic systems and components company ITT Industries Inc., aerospace manufacturer BF Goodrich Co., energy company Texaco Inc. and oil and gas explorer Union Pacific Resources Group Inc. all announced job cuts. Texaco said it would cut 2,000 positions worldwide. ITT said it would lay off up to 1,200 workers, or 3.4 percent of its global work force. Kellogg plans to eliminate 525 salaried positions and 240 temporary jobs in North America. Union Pacific said it would cut its headquarter staff 14 percent, a loss of 138 jobs. And BF Goodrich said it would close two assembly plants in Arkansas and a Maryland aerostructure facility that employ a total of 744 workers. The announcements came one day after aerospace giant Boeing Co. said it would cut 20,000 jobs going forward, as the Asian crisis cuts into its profits. Other layoffs are planned as merging companies such as Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp., Deutsche Bank AG and Bankers Trust Corp. eliminate redundancies. What is happening, according to Joel Naroff, an economist with First Union Corp. based in Philadelphia, is companies are ''finally throwing in the towel as far as holding things together and hoping that the effects of Asia or Latin America will not require them to do the kinds of downsizings that they're required to do.'' Naroff said, ''The fundamental decision to cut the work force is needs-based,'' as companies must respond more quickly to changes in the global economy. While layoffs are increasing, unemployment has stayed fairly low, economists noted. ''In the best of times there are 300,000 new claims for unemployment insurance,'' said Michael Boldin, the director of business cycle research for the Conference Board, a New York-based research firm. New claims have recently been between 300,000 and 325,000, he said. This means that individual workers have had to become more flexible, with corporations quicker to hire as well as to fire in response to changing economic conditions. ''People are moving to where the jobs and the growth are occurring. That means a lot more turbulence in people's lives,'' Challenger said. According to First Union's Naroff: ''Job security is not something you even talk about anymore. It is now more defined as the ability to walk across the street and get another job. It may mean a pay cut, it may mean giving some things up. For a lot of these people, it's not nearly as catastrophic as if the job market were not so tight.'' Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.