Layoffs are a painful symptom of a much bigger problem we seem to be in the middle of an unfortunate yet unavoidable correction to our way of life that goes beyond our financial world. And I just hope our bipartisan government can create enough damping in the form of squabbling to keep us from overshooting with too much correction.
Layoffs increased in January 2009 as the dismal holiday shopping season led to ugly corporate earnings, prompting a lot of retailers and big corporations to start slashing payroll. In Q4 2008 after Sequoia Capital’s infamous warning to startups, many startup companies began to layoff 10-20% of their workforce yet most big corporations did not react quickly. The results of 2008 and the deepning recession has forced US companies overall to layoff 241,749 jobs, the highest one-month figure since January 2002! This figure should be taken with a grain of salt as January is traditionally the heaviest layoff months; many retailers employ holiday workers to keep up with the busy season, so naturally some employees will be let go immediately following December. We believe this is just the beginning of a series of layoff throughout 2009, with each quarter bringing on worse-than-expected news and subsequent reaction of slashing headcounts. The next gate we will see such a mass exodus of employment will be April 2009. Forbes has a list of layoffs at Fortune 500 companies and it includes Caterpillar, Starbucks, Boeing, General Motors, Ford, Home Depot, Pfizer, Sprint Nextel, Microsoft, Intel, and Alcoa.
Just to put some perspective on this, nationally, there are 11 million on the unemployment claims roll with 2 million job openings. Health, HiTech manufacturing and Temporary Services are the only growth areas (and they are MEAGER). Don't close Gitmo. Use it for CEO's that squander the bailout money they received on perks, bonuses, six figure $$ office furniture, and private planes, etc....just as long as they don't install a golf course and personal massage stations
As companies across the country eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs, one field is hiring: the layoff industry. Businesses that specialize in “career transition” can barely keep up with the demand as corporate America cuts staff. “I can’t remember a busier time,” said Elaine Varelas, a managing partner at Keystone Partners, based in Boston. Right Management, another company that specializes in outplacement, reported a 39 percent increase in profit last fall. And William L. Ayers Jr., president of the 28-year-old Ayers Group in New York, said his business had had a 75 percent spike in so-called career transition work last year. In some cases, the companies do everything except deliver the bad news. They provide scripts and “termination training” for the managers. They counsel the laid-off workers and later offer them résumé-writing seminars and office space for job searches.
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