Increasing layoffs could spell trouble for economy
by ilene - February 3rd, 2010 11:07 am
Increasing layoffs could spell trouble for economy
Courtesy of Edward Harrison at Credit Writedowns
If you have been watching the news flow in the last month, you would certainly have the impression that there are an increasing number of large layoffs – Sam’s Club being a notable one. Before January, the jobless
Challenger Grey, which tracks this data, confirms this news.
Planned layoff announcements at major U.S. corporations increased 59% in January, reaching 71,482 from a nine-year low of 45,094 seen in December, according to the latest job-cut tally by Challenger Gray & Christmas.
Is this something seasonal – a one-off post Holiday retrenchment? Let’s see going forward. At a minimum, we should take some comfort that we are coming off near decade low layoff announcements.
Meanwhile ADP has come out with data which confirms that the private
Nonfarm private employment decreased 22,000 from December 2009 to January 2010 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report®. The estimated change of employment from November to December 2009 was revised by 23,000, from a decline of 84,000 to a decline of 61,000.
The January employment decline was the smallest since employment began falling in February of 2008.
Let’s not forget that looming state budget difficulties means cutbacks in state government payrolls too. So it is unclear where the jobs growth is going to come from. But, this much is clear: if you think the federal government should create incentives for hiring, then the proposals coming out the White House are not going to put a dent in the unemployment problem. Harold Myerson of the Washington
The Democrats have shifted their focus, they tell us relentlessly, to jobs, jobs, jobs.
Would that they had.
In fact, the job