‘Tis the Season for Mass Layoffs

Well, this is no way to start a Monday: First, Citigroup announces it plans to cut 53,000 jobs, the Wall Street Journal says.

Then, economist Rebecca Wilder at News N Economics chimes in with her prediction of more “mass layoffs” set to explode in the current recession.

From Wilder:

Anectodal evidence suggests that layoffs into 2009 will be big (mass in scale), broad-based (across all industries), and thus add up quickly. And with credit markets on red alert week after week, there doesn’t seem to be anywhere for the labor market to go but down even further.

This is going to be a very difficult time for unemployed workers, and according to the Herald Tribune (the global edition of the NY Times), the U.S. welfare infrastructure is not equipped to handle the oncoming severe contraction in the labor force. I hope that I am wrong, but after the very dismal October labor report, it seems that things have worsened substantially for the labor market.

In case you may have missed it, Wilder provides a handy list of major layoffs announced just since Nov. 12:

• Fidelity Will Eliminate 1,700 More Jobs in Early 2009
• Sun to Cut up to 6,000 Workers Amid Financial Crisis
• Credit Suisse Said to Plan Job Cuts, a Fund Unit Sale
• Nokia Lowers Market Growth Outlook as Spending
  “On Nov. 4, Nokia said it may cut as many as about 600 jobs in marketing and research to improve efficiency.”
• RBS May Eliminate Up to 3,000 Jobs in Securities Unit
• QVC Cuts 5.8 Percent of U.S. Jobs in Cost-Cutting Bid
  “QVC Inc., the home-shopping channel controlled by cable billionaire John Malone, said it will eliminate 700 jobs, or about 5.8 percent of its U.S. workforce, as part of a cost-cutting drive.”
• BT to Cut 10,000 Jobs; Second-Quarter Profit Falls
  “Most of the 10,000 cuts [6% of its labor force], out of a workforce of 160,000, will be “indirect labor” such as agency workers, contractors, subcontractors and offshore employees, the company said in a statement today.”
• Chrysler in Crisis, Needs U.S. Aid, Nardelli Says
  “Chrysler has announced the elimination of 35,000 jobs since February 2007, including plans to trim as many as 5,000 salaried positions by the end of this year.”
• Citigroup to cut 10 percent of jobs: source

Hope the rest of the week turns out better than what we’ve got going so far.