Posted on 12/30/2012 1:08:11 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Planned layoffs at U.S. firms rose for the third month in a row in November, partly driven by the bankruptcy of Hostess Brands, a report showed on Thursday.
Employers announced 57,081 job cuts last month, the highest level since May and up nearly 20 percent from 47,724 in October, according to the report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
November's job cuts were also up 34.4 percent from the 42,474 seen a year ago.
Employers have announced 490,806 cuts in 2012, lower than 2011's total of 606,082 layoffs.
The recent surge in layoffs is at least partly attributed to the bankruptcy of Twinkies maker Hostess in November. That accounted for 18,500 of the jobs lost. The computer industry, which has led layoffs for the year, cut 3,313 jobs last month.
"Job cuts this year have really been driven by a handful of large-scale cuts," Rick Cobb, executive vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.
The Christmas holidays does not necessarily offer respite, Cobb said, pointing to the 11,000 job cuts that Citigroup announced as an example.
The Citigroup job cuts were part of a larger bloodbath taking place on Wall Street in 2011 and 2012. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Wall Street eliminated some 300,000 financial services jobs in the last two years. And experts predict that more layoffs on Wall Street will be coming in 2013.
"The knives are sharpened and ready," Jason Kennedy, chief executive officer of London-based search firm Kennedy Group, told Businessweek. "...Unless the markets pick up, there will be more cuts in the first half."
The Challenger report comes a day ahead of the key U.S. jobs report, which is forecast to show job growth slowed sharply in November in the wake of superstorm Sandy.
(Excerpt) Read more at jobs.aol.com ...
Maybe it won't. Declare a state of emergency and ban sequestration. It would be similar to what would happen if the oil workers went on strike or the nat gas people went on strike or the longshoremen, etc.
Seeing that in my county. They’ve already laid off 160 workers over the last four years and announced consolidation of offices and more staff reductions for this year. At least 20 more persons. Libraries, parks, etc.
I also do volunteer work at a nearby National Park (Valley Forge). The Park Service will take a hit, too. I have to say, so many of the Park Service that I’ve worked with are stellar people, most with advanced degrees in Science, historic preservation and architecture, archaeologists, etc. IMO, they earn every bit of their pay.
I was in the military for over 20 years as a pilot, and I worked in Pentagon as well. I also used to work for a private company that had some defense related business.
Here is the brass tax: the DoD has already taken massive cuts under King Obama I. There were real cuts, and amounted to $450 Billion in reduction to the DoD budget. They were spread out over current and future years, and what that meant was that each service had to cut, and cut deep. The Army and Air Force cut thousands upon thousands of DoD civilian and contractor jobs. The Navy primarily cut contractors but also had a deeper hiring freeze.
Every DoD budget is projected in the out years, because weapon systems take so long to develop. But the job losses in the near term were huge.
The Sequester cut is on top of the $450 Billion cut that Panetta slashed on the orders of his boss, the Community Organizer. Panetta is an honorable man, perhaps the only honorable man in the Obama administration. He knew he was cutting to the bone, but he did as he was told. Sequester is a mortal wound, and Panetta knows it.
You cannot convince the public to look away from "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" long enough to explain the facts to them. They see a 10% cut hitting the military in 2 days and say: "So what! Fat cats! As long as I GET my unemployment, Social Security, disability, EBT check, then who cares?"
To cut that 10%, the Defense Dept cannot cut active troop personnel strength. That is Obama's order, because he doesn't want the political fall out of that. BUT, I have news for everyone. Obama is going to cut active duty, guard, and reserve uniformed strength anyway, and very soon. He will simply do it later this year. So, the DoD will have to take the money out of Operations and Maintenance, referred to as O&M. That will gut the military to the bone. That is the life blood of the military.
Contractors like Lockheed sold their soul to Obama before the November election. Lockheed is the largest DoD contractor, and they figured they would play politics and not send out layoff notices. They are going to get murdered anyway. Smart investors and companies realized 2 years ago that barring open war, the military will be gutted under Obama II to a level not seen in modern times.
Even if Sequester is partially put off (which looks very unlikely as of today), defense spending is going down the tubes anyway. Why? Entitlements have won the day. We now have a Federal Govt that exists as an ATM for over 50% of all Americans, and is very close to spending 70% of every dollar (of which 40 cents is borrowed) on Entitlements.
The US is in huge trouble: economically, politically, culturally, and militarily. Our primary problem is spiritual, but that is another discussion.
I think we have crossed the Rubicon. There are dark days ahead.
Good post, SkyPilot.
Couldn’t agree more. I currently work in the industry but not for long.
Secretary Gates agreed to a TON of spending cuts...but there were NEVER any cuts in any other department. Nobody else did “their fair share” (I hope this make the top most hated quote of the administration.)
As for Lockheed Martin, couldn’t agree more.
The American version of the Dark Ages has arrived .... in more ways than one.
Wrong. MORE than 50% HAVE figured it out and are voting for the guys that can keep their “free” s—t flowing. As has been pointed out down the thread, we are pretty much screwed at this point. It is simply an exercise in arithmatic for another decade or two. Quicker if enough of the world’s other major economies decide that the dollar is not a suitable reserve currency.
Daily: http://www.dailyjobcuts.com/
I think we have crossed the Rubicon. There are dark days ahead."
And there is only One who has the answer to our problems as God judges this nation.
Acts 17:30-32
"In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
“The computer industry, which has led layoffs for the year, cut 3,313 jobs last month.”
And that can be partly attributed to the utter disaster of Windows 8, said disaster just now starting to pick up steam. Wait for about 6 more months if you want to see a real bloodbath in the PC sector.
Wouldn’t that be on questionable grounds? If so, it only takes only one of them (or a few) to figure out what’s going on.
That said, I heavily doubt that the Democrats would be on board when it’s theirs to sacrifice.
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