Recession hits workers

Bloomberg

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At least 21,000 jobs were targeted for elimination Saturday as employers from Hertz Global Holdings to Advanced Micro Devices grappled with recession-choked demand.

More than 20 companies said they were cutting jobs, ranging from Amonil, Romania’s second-biggest fertilizer maker, to Fiat’s Magneti Marelli auto-parts division. Hertz, the second-largest U.S. rental-car company, said it will cut more than 4,000 jobs, as businesses and consumers slow travel because of the global recession.

"What you take away here is just how miserably profitability performed in the final quarter of ’08," said John Lonski, chief economist at Moody’s Capital Markets Group in New York, in an interview. "Companies cut back on staff when sales are significantly under expectation."

A continuing trend
About 2.1 million U.S. jobs will be lost in 2009, Lonski predicted, with 80 percent of the layoffs by the 4th of July.

"The downside risks facing the U.S. economy dwarf the upside potential that exists," Lonski said.

WellPoint, the second-largest U.S. health insurer, will end 1,500 jobs, which include 600 workers and 900 open positions.

Clear Channel Communications will lay off 1,500 employees on Jan. 20, mostly in ad sales, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. Clear Channel is the largest U.S. radio broadcaster.

ConocoPhillips, the second-largest U.S. refiner, announced after the markets closed that it plans to cut 4 percent of its workforce, or about 1,350 jobs.

Advanced Micro, the second-largest producer of personal- computer processors, said it will eliminate 1,100 jobs by the end of the first quarter.

Amonil said it will cut 45 percent of its staff, or 389 jobs, this year. Magneti Marelli will eliminate 800 jobs in Brazil, or 10 percent of its workforce there.

GE, De Beers and others
General Electric’s finance arm may cut 7,500 to 11,000 jobs, or at least 10 percent of its workforce, because of the global financial slump, people familiar with the plans said.

"We’ll be reducing costs by $2 billion in 2009 as we discussed in November," said Marissa Moretti, a spokeswoman for GE Capital. "Job cuts are a part of that." She declined to say how many.

De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond company, said it will cut jobs at its six mines in South Africa, totaling "less than" 1,000 people.

Interwoven, the provider of data-management software, announced after trading hours that it would cut 70 jobs.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will cut up to 1,000 jobs in 2009. Renold, the maker of the chains that drive the clock in London’s Big Ben, announced 350 job reductions. WS Atkins, the U.K.’s biggest engineering-design company, plans to eliminate 210 jobs at its Middle East operations.

Several manufacturers said they will operate with fewer workers. Scania, Sweden’s second-largest maker of heavy trucks, said it won’t renew contracts for 2,000 temporary employees to adjust production because of weaker demand.

Haynes International, the manufacturer of alloys for use in aerospace and chemical processing, said it will eliminate 12 percent of its global workforce. Varian, manufacturer of scientific instruments and vacuum technologies, will shed 240 jobs.

In the banking industry, Banco Santander, Spain’s biggest bank, eliminated 400 jobs in Brazil after buying ABN Amro Holding’s Banco Real unit in the country, a workers’ union said.

Harry & David Holdings, a fruit and food retailer, said it would cut more than 100 positions.