Job-cut announcements by U.S. companies escalated again in June, with employers cutting 124,852 positions, for a six-month total of more than 770,000, according to a new report from the employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
A telephone poll of human resource executives found that 71 percent of companies are taking unannounced belt-tightening measures as a result of the shift in the economy.
Analysts are warning businesses to manage staffing cuts and layoffs carefully. More than 90 percent of knowledge workers who are laid off or choose to leave during an economic downturn will be unavailable for rehire in an upturn, new research warns.
Although 73 percent of working adults feel secure in their current jobs, more than half of the respondents (58 percent) are taking precautions to prepare for the possibility of layoffs in the midst of concerns that a recession may hit the U.S. economy in 2001.
Although 73 percent of working adults feel secure in their current jobs, more than half of the respondents (58 percent) are taking precautions to prepare for the possibility of layoffs in the midst of concerns that a recession may hit the U.S. economy in 2001.
There were 1,905 mass layoff actions by employers that resulted in the separation of 374,320 workers from their jobs for more than 30 days in the fourth quarter of 2000, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The consumer products giant said that it will be laying off 10% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan. During the next five years the company will be closing 100 of its production plants in Europe & the Americas. This anouncement follows year-end 1999 earnings that revealed a 5% drop in net profit.
4.2% jobless rate, Wages go up just 1 cent an hour
The American economy is humming along in overdrive. According to statistics released last week by the Labor Department, two seemingly incompatible indexes show that the economy is experiencing the best of all possible worlds: full employment and moderate wage increases. Unemployment rates are now the lowest in 30 years at 4.1%, and last month wages for workers below the rank of supervisor increased at only 1 cent per hour.
