Jobs Layoffs in USA due to "Economic Downturn"

Month of July, 2008

Northwest Airlines will cut 2,500 jobs or 7% of its workforce due to rising fuel prices. (CNN Money/AP).

German conglomerate Siemens will cut 16,750 jobs worldwide. (Reuters).

United Healthcare will eliminate 4,000 jobs or 5% of its workforce. (AP)

IndyMac Bancorp will exit most of the home lending market and cut 3,800 jobs due to high rates of loan defaults. (LA Times)

Chicago Tribune will eliminate 80 newsroom positions. About 60 workers will lose their jobs and 20 positions are already vacant and won't be filled. (Crain's Chicago Business)

Starbucks will close 600 stores in the U.S. resulting in the loss of 12,000 jobs. The leading coffee chain blames a weak economy and overexpansion. (Seattle Times)

Month of June, 2008

Bank of America will ax 7,500 jobs following its acquisition of Countrywide mortgage company. (LA Times).

Foxwoods will layoff 2% of its workforce or 200 workers as the casino is being hurt by weak spending due to high gas prices. (Newsday/AP).

The Hartford Courant newspaper will cut 60 jobs and reduce the number of news pages by 25 percent as it suffers from an industry-wide downturn in advertising. The paper will reduce its newsroom staff from 232 to about 175. (Hartford Courant)

The Baltimore Sun newspaper will eliminate 100 workers through voluntary buyouts, layoffs and attrition. About 55-60 jobs in the newsroom are expected to be lost. (Baltimore Sun)

Continental Airlines plans to cut 3,000 jobs and ground 67 planes in order to deal with high fuel costs. (Houston Chronicle)

Intuit will cut 575 jobs or 7% of its workforce as it streamlines operations. (Silicon Valley Daily)

Week of April 4, 2008

Freightliner is laying off 1,500 workers at its Rowan County, NC truck plant -- half the plant's work force (Charlotte Observer).

Motorola plans to layoff 2,600 workers. (Chicago Tribune)

Schering-Plough will lay off 10% of its global workforce or 5,500 employees and will also shut plants. (Newark Star-Ledger)

CBS News is cutting 1% of its 1,200 member workforce. Local news stations at CBS have also cut anchors and reporters in NY, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Sacramento. (Reuters)

Aloha Airlines has laid off over 2,000 workers as it shut down passenger flight operations due to heavy losses and the high cost of fuel. (Honolulu Advertiser)

ATA Airlines filed for bankruptcy and will end flight operations following the loss of a military charter contract. 2,000 employees will lose their jobs including 600 at Indianapolis headquarters. (WTHR - Indianapolis)

People's Bank is eliminating 420 jobs and closing 20 branches in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire by this summer. (AP)

City of Portland, ME has cut 98 positions and 76 will be layoffs in a reorganization plan (WCSH - Portland).

Pilgrim's Pride is the nation's largest chicken company. It announced it will cut 1,100 jobs and shut down seven U.S. facilities. (Reuters)

Week of March 19, 2008

Delta Airlines is offering buyouts to 30,000 employees as it plans to reduce 2,000 jobs at the airline. (AP)

Supervalu is closing a plant in Livonia, MI resulting in the loss of 366 jobs. (Crain's Detroit Business)

Vaughan Furniture will close its last U.S. plant in North Carolina and cut 275 jobs. (Winston-Salem Journal)

ON Semiconductor is cutting 200 employees and closing a fab plant as it merges with AMI Semiconductor. (EDN)

Lehman Brothers is planning to lay off 1,425 people or 5% of its workforce across all regions of its business. (WSJ)

Week of March 1, 2008

Newsday will cut 120 positions as it deals with lower sales and weak advertising. (Newsday)

BMW plans to eliminate 8,100 jobs due to rising euro affecting profits. Most jobs will be lost in Germany. (NY Times)

Siemens will cut 3,800 jobs in its Enterprise Communications division and sell its telecom unit. Most will be in Germany and some in South America. (PC World)

Zale Corp. will eliminate 225 jobs or 20% of its headquarters workforce. The jewelry retailer also is closing 105 stores. (Bloomberg)

Wabash National is laying off 130 workers after furloughing 150 production workers last month. The company is a manufacturer of trucks. (Journal and Courier)

Week of February 23, 2008

Harrah's has cut about 150 workers at casinos in Las Vegas, Illinois and other parts of the country. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Goldman Sachs is ready to fire 1,500 employees as it faces losses in its investing and lending portfolios. (Dow Jones)

Starbucks is cutting 600 jobs nationwide with about one-third at Seattle headquarters. The company also plans to close 100 underperforming stores this year. (Seattle Times)

Wilson's Leather announced it will close 160 of its stores and layoff 1,000 workers. (AP)

Bay Area News Group is offering buyouts to 1,100 employees. The group publishers newspapers in the Bay Area including Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury News and Contra-Costa Times. (SF Chronicle)

The NY Times plans to cut 100 newsroom jobs at its flagship paper to deal with lower advertising revenue. The company will offer buyouts and layoffs if necessary. (NY Times)

Week of February 16, 2008

Sears announced it will cut 200 workers at its headquarters. The number represents 4% of 5,000 workers at its headquarters office. (Crain's Chicago Business)

Morgan Stanley is scaling back its mortgage operations and trimming 1,000 jobs. (International Herald Tribune)

Polaroid will no longer make instant film and is closing factories in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands and cutting 450 jobs. (AP)

General Motors announced a record $38.7 billion loss for 2007 and offered buyouts to all 74,000 union workers at the company. Buyouts can range from $70,000-140,000. (CNN Money)

DHL will cut about 600 jobs in the U.S. due to economic climate and demand. (Reuters)

Tribune Co. plans to layoff 2% or 400-500 employees. The LA Times will lose 100-150 jobs including 40-50 in the newsroom. (LA Times)

Week of February 9, 2008

Russell Stover will layoff 150 workers at its plant in Montrose, CO. (Kansas City Star)

CBS Radio has laid off 400 workers at its radio stations across the country. (Newark Star-Ledger)

Time Warner will cut up to 100 corporate positions and also split its AOL access and advertising businesses. (CNN Money)

Macy's will lay off 2,300 workers and consolidate its regional operating divisions following weak sales for the holidays and January. (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Week of February 1, 2008

Dell is closing call centers in Oklahoma and Edmonton this spring and will layoff 1,200 workers. 900 will lose their jobs in Canada and 300 in Oklahoma. It will also close 140 mall kiosks in the U.S. and focus on selling in retail stores. (Austin Business Journal)

Home Depot will lay off 500 workers or 10% if its headquarters workforce in Atlanta. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Ann Taylor to cut 180 positions or 13% of its corporate workforce. The company plans to close 117 underperforming stores over the next two years. (PR Newswire)

Yahoo is laying off 1,000 workers or 7% of its workforce after reporting a drop in profits for the year. (San Jose Mercury News)

Week of January 25, 2008

Morgan Stanley is laying off 1,000 workers or 2% of its total workforce. (WSJ)

Goldman Sachs may lay off 1,500 workers or up to 5% if its workforce due to weed out underperformers. The company paid $20 billion in bonuses last year, equivalent to $661,490 per person. (Bloomberg)

Ford is offering buyouts and early retirement packages for its 54,000 hourly workers. The auto giant lost $2.7 billion in 2007. (Detroit Free-Press)

Tellabs to cut 225 jobs or 6% of its workforce after profits dropped 78% in the fourth quarter. (Chicago Tribune)

Wyeth may cut as many as 5,000 jobs or 10% of its workforce after federal regulators delayed four of its medicines last year. (NY Times)

The Chicago Sun Times cut 36 staffers from its newspaper. (Chicago Tribune)

Week of January 18, 2008

Lawrence Livermore Lab in California could lay off as many as 700 workers this year due to a tighter federal budget. (Modesto Bee)

Sallie Mae is eliminating 350 workers or 3% of its workforce in a bid to cut 20% of its operating expenses. (Bloomberg)

Sprint announced plans to close 125 retail stores and cut 4,000 jobs or 7% of its workforce after reporting heavy subscriber losses for wireless service. (Washington Post)

IndyMac Bancorp will layoff 2,403 workers or 24% due to serious problems in the mortgage and credit industry. (AP)

The American Red Cross could layoff up to 1,000 people as it faces an operating deficit of $200 million. (NY Times)

Lehman Brothers is closing its wholesale mortgage unit due to the housing slump, resulting in the loss of 1,300 jobs. (AP)

Applied Materials is eliminating 1,000 jobs in its Silicon Systems Group via layoffs and attrition. (San Francisco Chronicle)

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