One of the worst nightmares for newly elect President Barack Obama, is the rapidly deterioration of the economy in the United States. Since his short time in office, the situation is getting worse, more so than expected.
It’s already been a lousy year for workers less than a month into 2009 and there’s no relief in sight. Tens of thousands of fresh layoffs has been announced in the past three months, and more companies are expected to cut jobs in the months ahead.
The recession, which started in December 2007, and is expected to stretch into this year, has been a job killer. The economy lost 2.6 million jobs last year, the most since 1945. The unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 percent in December, the highest in 16 years, and is expected to keep climbing.
Forecaster have grown more pessimistic about the outlook of the economy in the near future. In a October survey, no forecaster thought GDP would fall by more than 1 percent. In terms of business conditions, more reported customer demand dropping, capital spending reductions and shrinking profit margins.
Let’s take a look at some companies that have decided to cut their payroll in an effort to lower their operating costs and try to weather out the storm:
- Pfizer Inc.: 8,000 employees.
- Sprint Nextel Corp.: 8,000 employees.
- Home Depot Inc.: 7,000 employees
- General Motors Corp.: 2,000 employees.
- Caterpillar Inc.: 5,000 employees.
- Microsoft Corp.: 5,000 employees.
- Intel Corp.: 6,000 employees.
- United Airlines parent UAL Corp.: 1,000 employees.
Unless something unexpected happens in the next couple of months, it’s a gloom-and doom scenario right now It’s time to sit down on the kitchen table with a calculator in hand, and start planning for the future. You could be one amongst thousands of workers with a pink slip in your hand. In case this happens, be prepared with a Plan A, Plan B and just in case, with a Plan C. Good Day.
Source: Tens of thousands more layoffs are announced – Yahoo! News
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