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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>40,000 US jobs gone in one day
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->New York - The pace of corporate layoffs has picked up sharply since the beginning of the year, reflecting the worsening recession in the United States.
On Friday alone, companies as diverse as General Electric, Pfizer, Advanced Micro Devices, WellPoint and Hertz announced big cuts in staffing.
In all, employers announced the loss of more than 40,000 jobs.
The biggest cut came from Circuit City Stores, a bellwether American retailer. It announced on Friday that it would go out of business, stripping the nation of its second-largest consumer electronics chain.
Most of the chain's 34,000 employees at its 567 stores will be laid off.
Rental car company Hertz Global Holdings is eliminating 4,000 jobs worldwide as families and business travellers forgo trips.
Drug company Pfizer may cut as many as 2,400 sales jobs, according to various media reports.
Insurer WellPoint is cutting about 1,500 jobs, with rising unemployment leading to fewer people with health insurance.
General Electric said its GE Capital unit is cutting jobs as part of an effort to save about US$2 billion (S$3 billion) this year, but declined comment on a report that as many as 11,000 positions would be eliminated.
Cuts last week have come in nearly every sector. Luxury retailer Saks is slashing 1,100 jobs, mobile phone company Motorola will eliminate 4,000 jobs, its second round of layoffs in four months.
Even Internet search leader Google, which seemed impervious to the economy's troubles, said last week that it will close three engineering offices and cut 100 recruiters.
For the moment, every economic action seems to precipitate a negative reaction. Consumers made nervous by job cuts, tumbling home prices and swooning stocks are not spending.
That hurts retailers and manufacturers, who have closed stores, cutting their employees' jobs or hours, making workers more nervous, so they spend less.
And the spiral continues.
'There does seem to be a painful cycle emerging,' said Dresdner Kleinwort economist Dana Saporta. 'Halting this cycle will require very aggressive fiscal and monetary policy.'
With unemployment at a 16-year high of 7.2 per cent last month and about 11 million Americans out of work, many economists expect worse news to come.
The economic downturn has also cut the amount of advisory work for professional services firms around the world.
Global accountancy firm KPMG has asked its 11,000 British staff if they would switch to a four-day week or take a long break to help avoid redundancies in the recession, a spokesman said yesterday. AP, NYT
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->New York - The pace of corporate layoffs has picked up sharply since the beginning of the year, reflecting the worsening recession in the United States.
On Friday alone, companies as diverse as General Electric, Pfizer, Advanced Micro Devices, WellPoint and Hertz announced big cuts in staffing.
In all, employers announced the loss of more than 40,000 jobs.
The biggest cut came from Circuit City Stores, a bellwether American retailer. It announced on Friday that it would go out of business, stripping the nation of its second-largest consumer electronics chain.
Most of the chain's 34,000 employees at its 567 stores will be laid off.
Rental car company Hertz Global Holdings is eliminating 4,000 jobs worldwide as families and business travellers forgo trips.
Drug company Pfizer may cut as many as 2,400 sales jobs, according to various media reports.
Insurer WellPoint is cutting about 1,500 jobs, with rising unemployment leading to fewer people with health insurance.
General Electric said its GE Capital unit is cutting jobs as part of an effort to save about US$2 billion (S$3 billion) this year, but declined comment on a report that as many as 11,000 positions would be eliminated.
Cuts last week have come in nearly every sector. Luxury retailer Saks is slashing 1,100 jobs, mobile phone company Motorola will eliminate 4,000 jobs, its second round of layoffs in four months.
Even Internet search leader Google, which seemed impervious to the economy's troubles, said last week that it will close three engineering offices and cut 100 recruiters.
For the moment, every economic action seems to precipitate a negative reaction. Consumers made nervous by job cuts, tumbling home prices and swooning stocks are not spending.
That hurts retailers and manufacturers, who have closed stores, cutting their employees' jobs or hours, making workers more nervous, so they spend less.
And the spiral continues.
'There does seem to be a painful cycle emerging,' said Dresdner Kleinwort economist Dana Saporta. 'Halting this cycle will require very aggressive fiscal and monetary policy.'
With unemployment at a 16-year high of 7.2 per cent last month and about 11 million Americans out of work, many economists expect worse news to come.
The economic downturn has also cut the amount of advisory work for professional services firms around the world.
Global accountancy firm KPMG has asked its 11,000 British staff if they would switch to a four-day week or take a long break to help avoid redundancies in the recession, a spokesman said yesterday. AP, NYT
