Job cut information. You know, as an employee myself, this information is scary. 3,432 layoffs per business day in 1998! As an investor, it worries me. Sooner or later, I think, this type of cost cutting will have a negative impact on the economy. I just have to think that the income for those that lost their jobs was not nearly equaled by the new jobs they found. Jeff
<<
CHALLENGER: NOV. U.S. JOB CUTS 51,642; OVER 216,000 IN 3 MOS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New York-Dec. 7-FWN--IN THE FIERCEST THREE-MONTH JOB slashing in seven years, more than 216,000 job cuts were announced, averaging 3,432 per business day, culminating in 51,642 in November.
The dramatic job-cutting spree has turned 1998 into the second "worst" year of the decade with 574,629 cuts in 11 months, only 40,560 behind the decade's record yearly figure of 615,189 in 1993, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. reported today.
The November job-cut total was down 44% from October's 91,531, a 33-month high. Last month was up 9% over November 1997, when employers announced 47,241 job cuts.
Through November, announced job cuts surpass the 1997 year-end total of 434,350 by 140,279 or 32%.
Electronics, industrial goods, computer, financial and consumer goods lead all other industries as they continue to be plagued by low oil prices and ongoing economic turmoil in Asia and Latin America. Between the five, they have eliminated 293,599 jobs, accounting for 51% of all job cuts announced in 1998.
Industrial goods jumped to number two in the rankings after particularly heavy cuts over the last three months, totaling 10,386; 18,514; and 10,698, respectively.
There were 73,062 job cuts announced in September, 91,531 in October, and 51,642 in November, for a three-month total of 216,235.
"We could see more pre-Christmas job cutting over the next 15 days as companies finalize 1999 budgets, including headcounts," forecast John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an international outplacement firm that tracks job cuts daily.
"Downsizing announcements have been explosive since September, many concentrated in major job generators of the economy--steel, oil, semiconductors--suggesting there is a lot more to come as the impact filters downstream," said Challenger.
>>
|
