Free Republic

Washington Post closing all US bureaus outside DC The Washington Post is closing its last US bureaus outside the nation's capital as the money-losing newspaper retrenches to focus on politics and local news. Published: 12:48AM GMT 25 Nov 2009 "At a time of limited resources and increased competitive pressure, it's necessary to concentrate our journalistic firepower on our central mission of covering Washington and the news, trends and ideas that shape both the region and the country's politics, policies and government," the newspaper's editor, Marcus Brauchli, wrote in a memo to employees that was obtained by Reuters. The Post will...

A growing number of states reported rising jobless rates in October, and thirteen states reported unemployment rates above the national average of 10.2%, according to a government report released on Friday

Oil-refinery workers on the Delaware River yesterday received their second big blow in six weeks, when Valero Energy Corp. said it would close its operation in Delaware City, Del., casting 550 out of work. When workers heard the news, "it was like a time bomb went off," said Matt Edler, who has worked for 10 years at the refinery that rises out of the lowlands near the Delaware River in southern New Castle County. "My grandfather worked there, my father, and I worked there," said Edler, who yesterday afternoon joined other shocked refinery workers at Red Lion Inn in Bear,...

Data from Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveys shows that 15.0% of Democrats in the workforce are currently unemployed and looking for a job. Among adults not affiliated with either major party, that number is 15.6% while just 9.9% of Republicans are in the same situation. These findings are from interviews with 15,000 American adults in October. The numbers show an increase in all categories from earlier in the year. The percentage of unemployed Democrats has grown less than a point from 14.2% in February. Among those not affiliated with either major party, unemployment has grown by more than two percentage...

Payroll employment among for-hire trucking companies in October dropped 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from September levels – slightly more than the decline the month before. Employment is down 9.3 percent from October 2008, according to preliminary figures released Friday, Nov. 6, by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US news agency the Associated Press (AP) laid off dozens of employees on Tuesday as part of a plan to reduce its global payroll by 10 percent this year, a union statement said. The News Media Guild, which covers some 1,300 AP editorial and technology unit staffers in the United States, said it did not have an exact number of layoffs because management had not yet formally notified it of the move. The Guild said it had been informed by members of more than 38 layoffs affecting Guild-covered managers, reporters, editors, photographers, and editorial assistants. It...

Think the worst is over? Wrong. Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening. While the official unemployment rate is already 10.2% and another 200,000 jobs were lost in October, when you include discouraged workers and partially employed workers the figure is a whopping 17.5%. While losing 200,000 jobs per month is better than the 700,000 jobs lost in January, current job losses still average more than the per month rate of 150,000 during the last recession. Also, remember: The last recession ended in November 2001, but job losses continued for more than a year and half until...

The Obama administration, under fire for inflating job growth from the $787 billion stimulus plan, slashed over 60,000 jobs from its most recent report on the program because the reporting outlets had submitted "unrealistic data," according to a document obtained by ABC News. The Office of Management and Budget document shows that before an Oct. 30 progress report on the program the administration asked the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to remove information from 12 stimulus recipients that contained "unrealistic data," including "unrealistic job data." One recipient, Talladega County of Alabama, claimed that 5,000 jobs had been saved or created...

The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America reported that 40 positions may be cut as the denomination struggles financially. "These have been very painful days in this organization," ELCA Presiding Bishop the Rev. Mark S. Hanson told the Church Council Friday, according to the ELCA News Service. Lutherans are looking to reduce their 2010 budget by 10 percent due to decreased giving over the past 30 years, the economic downturn, and the decision by some congregations to withhold funding. Several congregations have decided to cut all funding to the ELCA following the controversial vote in August by the...

The New York Times News Service will lay off at least 25 editorial employees next year and will move the editing of the service to a Florida newspaper owned by The New York Times Company, the newspaper and the Newspaper Guild said Thursday... The plan for the news service calls for The Gainesville Sun, whose newsroom is not unionized and has lower salaries, to take over editing and page design. Ms. McNulty said new jobs would be created at The Sun to handle the work.

Newsweek editor Jon Meacham informed staff today that about a dozen positions would be eliminated due to the "economic climate in publishing." Meacham, in a memo obtained by POLITICO, noted that the magazine has taken a different direction this year, and despite the layoffs claimed that it "continues to appear promising in terms of building and retaining an engaged audience that we hope will be attractive to advertisers." Full memo from Meacham after the jump. To the Staff From Jon Meacham This has been a tough day for the magazine. Because the economic climate in publishing has become ever more...

Nobel Laureate Al Gore's cable news channel Current TV announced Wednesday it's reducing its staffing by 80 people. The company said in a press release that these layoffs weren't about cutting costs, but instead a reshifting of priorities. The website Gawker exposed the foolishness of such a claim: Which means everything is totally awesome and on track, according to a Current press release: This re-organization was not the result of a need to cut costs. Current Media will have its most profitable year. This financial stability will allow the company to re-allocate resources in order to put further emphasis on...

Payroll employment among for-hire trucking companies in October dropped 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from September levels – slightly more than the decline the month before. Employment is down 9.3 percent from October 2008, according to preliminary figures released Friday, Nov. 6, by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. With the estimated 7,500 jobs lost in October, the trucking industry has lost more than 91,000 jobs since the end of 2008 – a decline of 6.8 percent. Job cuts since July 2008 – just before the current decline – total 141,400. The BLS numbers reflect...

Demand for private jets is way down and NetJets will lay off almost 500 pilots as a result -- almost 20% of its staff of 3,000 pilots. because of a decrease in demand. NetJets is a unit of investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway

The true rate of unemployment for October 2009 may be 22.1 percent, not the 10.2 percent reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jerome Corsi's Red Alert reports. Unemployment at 22.1 percent, if accurate, would be at numbers not seen since peak unemployment during the 1973 to 1975 recession. Economist John Williams, publisher of ShadowStats.com, estimates that the peak of unemployment in nonfarm unemployment in the Great Depression of the 1930s would, by his methodology, have registered at 34 to 35 percent in 1933. So, how does the Obama administration get away with reporting the lower unemployment percentage? Corsi explained that...

The Star Tribune is cutting another 100 jobs companywide to further shave costs after bankruptcy. The company's operating committee announced the cuts this morning, saying that the "cracking of our historical economic model and the current Great Recession have forced us to move quickly to make meaningful and difficult adjustments over the next few months." About 30 of the cuts will come from the newsroom and editorial staff -- about a 10 percent reduction -- Star Tribune Editor Nancy Barnes said. The company said most of the cuts would be completed by the end of the year, but that the...

Blue Coat Systems (BCSI) this morning said it will cut about 10% of its staff under a new restructuring plan. The company currently has a little under 1,500 employees. The company also said it will acquire S7 Software Solutions, a software R&D firm based in Bangalore, India, for about $5.25 million in cash. Blue Coat said it will shift some engineering positions from Sunnyvale (which is where the company is based) and Austin, Texas to Bangalore and other locations. It is closing offices in Riga, Latvia; South Plainfield, New Jersey; and Zoetermeer, the Netherland.

2:15 PM UPDATE: I've learned that 100 people are being laid off across "several divisions" of the A&E Television Networks yesterday and today "as a direct result of the merger". It will make those employees feel so much better that management tells me it's "no one in a decision making role." A&E Television Networks in August acquired Lifetime Entertainment, and everything is now owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group, Hearst and NBC Universal. Big Media = Big Mergers = Big Mistakes.

Broader Measure of Unemployment Stands at 17.5% By DAVID LEONHARDT November 6, 2009 For all the pain caused by the Great Recession, the job market still was not in as bad shape as it had been during the depths of the early 1980s recession — until now. With the release of the jobs report on Friday, the broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment tracked by the Labor Department has reached its highest level in decades. If statistics went back so far, the measure would almost certainly be at its highest level since the Great Depression. In all, more than one...

Pfizer (PFE) has laid off 26,300 employees since 2005, and hopes eventually to lay off a total of 30,900 through 2012, according to its 10-Q filing with the SEC. The company had several rounds of layoffs before its acquisition of Wyeth in an attempt to get $6 billion in annual savings out of its business model. The company has said it wants to ax about 19,500 jobs to make the Wyeth merger work. The new company will have about 130,000 workers. The layoffs are ongoing, Pfizer said: In the third quarter of 2009, we reduced our workforce by approximately 1,100...

I just surfed through the websites of the local TV stations and the two main newspapers here, The Tennessean and the Trashville City Paper and not a single one of the TV stations or newspaper websites has one article or story on anything to do with unemployment, let alone the fact that the numbers are now at 10.2%. Its disgusting!

Loss-making telecom equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks on Tuesday set out plans to cut nearly 6,000 jobs as it consolidates five units into three and aims for acquisitions.

Its make-it or break-it time next week when investors look to the Labor Department's Unemployment Report for October, let's hope its good. With the market jumping 200 points in either direction on bascially "headlines" this week, the October payrolls report that is delivered next Friday (Nov 6th) could really jolt the system. Even as other parts of the economy show signs of stabilizing, rising unemployment may keep overall wages and benefits subdued and weigh on consumer spending. The U.S. has lost 7.2 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, and the government is scheduled to release the October...

We all know that the US has lost 4.5 million jobs under President Obama's march to Socialism. But what about the aborted jobs?

The Boeing Co. announced Friday it will lay off a third of its 1,000-member workforce at Kennedy Space Center next year. The layoffs will come in January, May and August as the shuttle program heads toward retirement. Some 330 workers will be laid off from Boeing's Checkout, Assembly and Payload Processing Services program, which has about 500 workers, spokeswoman Susan Wells said Friday. "Boeing is committed to preserving as many jobs as possible for our valued, highly skilled employees, and the company has taken aggressive steps to lessen the impact of these potential reductions," a company statement said. "These steps...

Signaling that worse times are ahead for magazines, Time Inc. is expected to announce next week that it will cut $100 million from costs, including another big round of layoffs. The timing is coordinated with parent company Time Warner’s third-quarter earnings announcement, sources said, scheduled for Wednesday morning. Time Inc., the publisher of titles like Time, Fortune, and People, has already cut costs dramatically: a year ago, it announced it was dismissing 6 percent of its work force, or about 600 people. That was apparently not enough to make up for revenue declines. The $100 million in costs is expected...

US Airways Group and American Airlines said Wednesday they will continue to downsize their operations next year in the wake of falling air-traffic demand. In a statement, US Airways (LCC 3.13, -0.01, -0.32%) said will realign its business and reduce departures from Las Vegas and Philadelphia, and close stations in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Wichita, Kan. In turn, it will focus on its core strengths in Charlotte, N.C.; Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington's National Airport. By the end of 2010, the Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier said those four cities will represent about 99% of its capacity, compared to 93% today. "These centers...

Struggling US Airways said on Wednesday it will cut some 1,000 jobs next year, shift nearly all of its flying to its three hubs and Washington, and suspend several international routes.

Caterpillar Inc. said it expects to call 550 laid-off employees back to work by the end of next year, but will permanently trim about 2,500 idle employees. The company on Monday began notifying the employees designated for permanent separation from the construction machinery maker. The company said it will provide severance benefits to those employees, but it didn't specify whether they are from the hourly or salaried employee ranks or where they worked.

White House economist Christina Romer, in remarks that ratcheted up the administration's pessimism, told a congressional panel Thursday that "labor market conditions will remain painfully weak through 2010." She said that the jobless rate, which hit 9.8% last month, would likely remain "at its severely elevated level" for at least another year. In testimony before the congressional Joint Economic Committee, Ms. Romer said the federal stimulus package will have its greatest effects this year and "will likely be contributing little to growth" by the middle of next year. She also warned that the growing clamor to address the high unemployment...

America Now Over 6 Million Jobs Shy of Administration's Projections Wednesday, October 21, 2009 The table below compares the White House's February 2009 projection of the number of jobs that would be created by the 2009 stimulus law (through the end of 2010) with the actual change in state payroll employment through September 2009 (the latest figures available). According to the data, 49 States and the District of Columbia have lost jobs since stimulus was enacted. Only North Dakota has seen net job creation following the February 2009 stimulus. While President Obama claimed the result of his stimulus bill would...

Washington D.C. had the highest percentage rise in unemployment in September, with the jobless rate jumping from 11.1 percent to 11.4 percent, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported moments ago in its monthly state-by-state jobless report. New York experienced the most jobs lost in the month, but D.C. had the highest percentage loss relative to population. D.C. lost 10,000 jobs from August to September, the Bureau said. The national unemployment rate is 9.8 percent. In Maryland, the unemployment rate is 7.2 percent, up from 4.6 this time last year. In Virginia, the rate is 6.7 percent, up from...

If you're looking for work, don't look in California. The world's eighth largest economy is still finding its feet after suffering multiple economic shocks, including a housing slump, mortgage crisis and recession. Employers in California, the most populous U.S. state, are expected to keep cutting staff in 2010 as the wider U.S. jobs market recovers. As industries in other U.S. states prepare to rehire on signs of recovery, firms in California are still waiting for their economy to rebound. The state has 12.2 percent unemployment, above the national U.S. level of 9.8 percent, and at odds with California's image as...

The New York Times (NYT) newsroom is reeling from today's announcement that the company plans to cut the staff by 100. We spoke with a Times reporter, who told us it was the timing of the layoffs that is hitting everyone the hardest. The layoffs will come at the start of December, meaning a jobless Christmas for lots of reporters. See more reactions from the newsroom > Most of the people at the Times know the paper needs to be slimmed down, but nobody expected it would come in the middle of October. The newsroom is "stunned." When we asked...

The New York Times reports today that the paper will cut 8 percent of its newsroom staff, or around 100 people by the end of 2009. Currently, the New York Times employs 1,250 staff members in the news department. The media company is planning to offer buyouts to both union and non-union staff and will need to implement layoffs if they can’t get enough people to participate in the buyout offer.

The New York Times (NYT.N) plans to cut 100 newsroom jobs by the end of the year through buyouts and might resort to layoffs as it reels from the advertising revenue drop that is imperiling U.S. newspapers. The news, delivered in a memo to employees by Times Executive Editor Bill Keller on Monday, comes after the newspaper's workers already took a 5 percent pay cut for most of this year and a similar program last year. "When we took our 5 percent pay cuts, it was in the hope that this would fend off the need for more staff cuts...

Job Losses Higher Than Reported - Comstock The Pragmatic Capitalist October 16, 2009 From our friends over at Comstock Funds: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently announced that they will be making downward benchmark revisions to past monthly nonfarm employment data that casts doubt on the validity of the recent figures as well. As we will explain, it is highly likely that substantially more jobs are now being lost than is currently reported. The BLS makes annual revisions to the previously announced payroll reports to account for job increases or decreases that were not picked up in the initial...

California Job Losses Continue To Climb Job losses for September are higher than expected and more than five times greater than in August, state officials say. L.A. County joblessness soars to 12.7%. By Alana Semuels October 16, 2009 California posted higher-than-expected job losses in September, a sign that the state's employment woes continue even amid signs of a broader economic recovery. Employers cut 39,000 workers from their payrolls last month, according to figures released this morning by the state Employment Development Department. That's more than five times the number of jobs that state officials now say California lost in August,...

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan's unemployment rate, which was the nation's highest at 15.2 percent in August, crept up to 15.3 percent in September, state officials said Wednesday. A year ago, Michigan's jobless rate was 8.9 percent.

DES MOINES, Iowa - Office furniture and fireplace insert manufacturer HNI Corp. said Friday it plans to close a Kentucky factory to reduce costs. The company said it notified workers and union officials of its decision to close the Owensboro, Ky., office furniture factory beginning in the fourth quarter. The work will be absorbed by other factories. The closure should be completed by the end of the second quarter 2010.

SPENCER, Iowa -- A Northwest Iowa plant that makes engine seals for the automotive industry is closing, costing 65 workers their jobs. Michigan-based Freudenberg-NOK announced Wednesday it would close its Spencer plant and distribution center over the next six months and transfer the work to two facilities in Ohio. A Freudenberg-NOK spokeswoman attributed the decision to the economic downturn, which reduced sales to the manufacturing industry. The firm was forced to reassess its operations, and consolidate its maufacturing facilities, which have been operating at reduced capacity, said Sarah O'Hare, the company's vice president of human resources and communications.

Stocks are up. Jobs are down. So if you're an investor you're enjoying a vibrant recovery and if you're a worker it still feels like a grinding recession. Since bottoming out in March, the stock market has soared by about 60 percent, one of the most awesome rallies in market history. The Dow Jones Industrial Average cracking 10,000 may not be strategically significant, but it's a psychological breakthrough that's worth cheering after the demoralizing crash that preceded it. While the Dow has been racing upward, however, the unemployment rate has also skyrocketed, from 8.5 percent in March to 9.8 percent...

Harley-Davidson USA today announced that they are discontinuing the Buell line of motorcycles. This news comes as Harley-Davidson reported a third quarter earnings that was down 21.3% from the same period in 2008. All remaining in-stock Buell motorcycles and accessories will be sold by authorized dealers, but no additional Buell motorcycles will be manufactured. Existing warranty coverage for Buell motorcycles will be honored and Harley-Davidson will continue to provide replacement parts and service through their dealerships. Over time, the discontinuing of the Buell line is expected to eliminate 80 hourly productions positions and approximately 100 salaried positions at Buell. According...

If you're looking for work, don't look in California. The world's eighth largest economy is still finding its feet after suffering multiple economic shocks, including a housing slump, mortgage crisis and recession. Employers in California, the most populous U.S. state, are expected to keep cutting staff in 2010 as the wider U.S. jobs market recovers.

Don't be surprised f you see a bunch of pink-slipped Current producers in SOMA, so be nice and buy one a drink. San Francisco-based Current Media, cofounded by former Vice President Al Gore, is looking to lay off more local employees, according to a source familiar with its plans. The company laid off 60 employees last year, or about 15 percent of its staff, though promised to rehire some in new positions. Part of the losses will stem from moving all video production to Los Angeles, or even outsourcing it entirely. The network made the news when a reporter Laura...

9.8 Percent and Rising by: Sarah Carlsruh, October 13, 2009 The House Republican Policy Committee invited top economists to its Summit on the Economy and Unemployment on September 30th to address the question on so many Americans minds: What went wrong with the economy? Representative Mike Pence (R-IN), House Republican Conference Chairman and co-sponsor of the summit with Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), addressed the disconnect between “the priorities here in D.C. and the priorities of the American people,” such as the gulf between what politicians say about the stimulus bill and its actual performance. “Apart from our national defense,” stated...

A distressed economy is widely blamed for President George H.W. Bush's re-election defeat in 1992, and a decade earlier, for the loss of 26 House seats in midterm elections by Ronald Reagan's Republicans. Yet in both instances recession had already ended or was winding down. It's a point not lost on President Barack Obama's White House or Democrats headed into next year's midterm elections. The stock market may be up, U.S. service industries may be recovering, banks may be lending again and housing prices holding. But one major piece of the recovery puzzle is still missing: a brighter employment picture....

The worst recession since the Great Depression has left a scorched landscape that will weigh on the labor market and the broader economy for years to come, according to economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey. The 48 surveyed economists expect the economy to bounce back from four quarters of contraction with 3.1% growth in gross domestic product at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in the just-ended third quarter.

The Jobless Recovery October 11, 2009 11:40 AM EDT | by: Megan Whittemore Many experts envision a jobless recovery, in which the economy grows but job losses persist. Economists now predict unemployment will peak at 10.5% next June, fall to 9.1% by 2011 but still be at 8.1% in 2013. So what can be done? There was bipartisan agreement among a top economist, a big businessman and a Democratic and Republican Governor, for more powerful tax policy to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, called for more tax incentives to create jobs as well...

North Carolina Dell Plant is laying off 905 workers. Changing focus leads Dell to close NC plant By EMERY P. DALESIO (AP) – 3 hours ago RALEIGH, N.C. — A massive Dell Inc. computer assembly plant once seen as a job generator worthy of the promise of more than $300 million in state and local inducements will go dark in four months, a victim of new corporate calculations and changing customer tastes. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iRGItzlpkmL78VB9AHHzobKKlRagD9B6J6D03 Finance Layoffs: Mutual of Omaha and Capital BankMore bad news for those in the finance industry. The latest reports of layoffs are at Mutual of Omaha Bank...