Half-Life and Times

That Rebounding Economy

HP announced that it would cut 14,500 jobs, nearly 10 percent of the company's total workforce.

...will result in a net work force reduction of about 10 percent, or 6,000 employees.

...the company announced a second-quarter loss along with plans to cut 10,000 more workers over the next two years

...it will trim 2,000 jobs from its aerospace business and reported that brisk sales boosted second-quarter operating income.

Ford already has announced plans to reduce its salaried work force in North America by 2,700 people by the end of this year. It also has said it will reduce the use of agency workers and other purchased services by 10 percent.

But Suris said the company, the nation's second-biggest automaker behind General Motors Corp., is considering even more aggressive measures.

June job cuts rose 73 percent from the year-ago period. So far this year, 538,274 job cuts have been announced this year, 14 percent more than the six-month total of 472,735 last year.

Despite reports that show economic growth and job gains, major layoff announcements in the auto and retail sectors contributed to the surprise June number.

"The fact that job cuts are rising in the summer is not even the most surprising trend. The surprise is that we are seeing a growing number of mass job cuts," said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

posted by Tony Plutonium @ 8:21 PM