Not for the faint of heart: Closures & Layoffs (Feb. 1-7)

[marmar]

from costar.com:



Closures & Layoffs (Feb. 1-7): 2008's Brutal Layoff Count
A Weekly Report on Future Corporate Downsizings

By Mark Heschmeyer
February 4, 2009




Plus, a whole new round of major U.S. corporation closures and layoffs were announced in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

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Sacked: 2008's Brutal Tally

From the start of the recession in December 2007 through December 2008, employers initiated 23,485 mass layoffs. Each involved at least 50 people. The actions impacted 2.39 million workers. The numbers are the highest annual levels since 2001 and 2002, respectively.

Manufacturing accounted for 33% of all mass layoff events and 41% of initial claims filed during 2008, up slightly from 2007 (30% and 38%, respectively). The number of manufacturing claimants was highest in transportation equipment manufacturing, 323,676, followed by food manufacturing, 72,081, and wood product manufacturing, 56,374.

Among the major industry sectors, manufacturing had the largest over-the-year increase in mass layoff-related initial claims (+260,213) from 2007 to 2008. Within manufacturing, transportation equipment (+95,463), plastics and rubber products (+24,638), and fabricated metal products (+23,083) experienced the largest increases from the previous year. Administrative and waste services had the second largest increase (+78,183) among the major industry sectors, due to more layoff activity in administrative and support services (+77,864).

Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, California recorded the largest number of initial claims (446,480) filed in mass layoff events during 2008, accounting for 21% of the national total.

The states with the next highest numbers of initial claims were Michigan (132,468), Ohio (131,813), Pennsylvania (128,041), and Illinois (103,685).

Eleven states--Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wyoming--recorded series highs in mass layoff claimant activity in 2008, while two states--Maine and Virginia--reported series lows.

The national unemployment rate was 7.2% in December, seasonally adjusted, up from 6.8% the prior month and from 4.9% a year earlier.

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Macy's Cuts Workforce by 3.9%; Reduces Capital Expenditures; Reorganizes

By: Sasha M Pardy
Macy's Inc. announced a series of cost reduction initiatives that the company expects will result in a $400 million annual reduction in planned expenses for 2010 and $250 million for 2009. Included in the plan is a company-wide consolidation of divisions and corporate office functions and investments in local infrastructure resulting in a net reduction of 7,000 positions or 4% of its total workforce;

In addition, Macy's is shifting management of stores into a "My Macy's" format that will group all stores into 69 geographic districts including 10-12 stores each. This new structure will become effective in the second quarter and will include approximately 1,200 new positions managing the My Macy's districts and regions. The company said a new executive management team would be put in place as well.

Macy's further reduced its 2009 capital expenditure plan to $450 million, down from a previously announced $550-$600 million. The company said no additional store closing announcements, aside from the 11 announced last month, would be made at this time.

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Starbucks Closing 300 More Stores; Cutting 6,700 Jobs

By: Sasha M Pardy
Seattle-based coffee roaster Starbucks Corp. plans to close 200 additional underperforming company-operated stores. This is in addition to the 600 store closings the company announced in July 2008.

Internationally, Starbucks is closing 100 stores, plus the 61 store closures in Australia it announced during the summer. Nearly all these stores will be closed by the end of Starbucks' fiscal year in September 2009.

The coffee retailer is also pulling further back on new store openings. During fiscal 2009, it plans to open 140 new U.S. stores (down from its previous target of 200 stores) and 170 international stores (down from its previous expectation of 270 stores). Additionally, Starbucks has lowered its net new licensed store target (typically grocery store, school, and airport locations) to 125 in the U.S. and 360 internationally. In comparison, Starbucks opened 445 net new company-operated stores and 438 licensed stores in the U.S. during fiscal 2008, as well as 786 net new international locations.

Through these closures, as well as other "labor efficiency" initiatives, Starbucks said as many as 6,000 store positions and 700 non-store positions (including 350 at its Seattle headquarters) would be eliminated in 2009.

Starbucks' first quarter results included a 10% decline in U.S. comparable store sales and a 6% decline in U.S. net revenues.



Closures & Layoffs

California

3M Co., 1331 Commerce Street, Petaluma is closing down and laying off 105 workers on Feb. 1.

A Firstgroup America, dba-First Transit, 5357 Valley Blvd, Los Angeles is laying off 177 workers on Feb. 28.

Adobe Systems Inc., 601 Townsend Street, San Francisco is laying off 75 workers on Feb. 3.

Adobe Systems Inc., 345 Park Avenue, San Jose is laying off 191 workers on Feb. 3.

Alza Corp., 1010 Joaquin Road, Mountain View is closing down and laying off 29 workers on March 20.

AT&T Co., 4430 Rosewood Drive, Pleasanton is laying off 27 workers on Feb. 6.

AT&T, National Customer Support, 2623 Camino Ramon, San Ramon is laying off 16 workers on Feb. 6.

Calsonic Kansei, 9 Holland, Irvine is closing down and laying off 28 workers on August 28.

Cartus, 27271 Las Ramblas, Mission Viejo is closing down and laying off 120 workers on Feb. 6. ..............(much more, sadly)

The complete list is at: http://www.costar.com/news/Article.aspx?id=CDB398A1174FFB05274DB480586B1333

[Faygo Kid]

1. Thank you, George, and congratulations

You and your Repuke allies wrecked this country and destroyed our economy to benefit the privileged few who were your Pioneers and Rangers - your "base," as you called them.

And now the Rusbot party is enjoying itself immensely continuing the carnage by refusing to govern, and instead expending all its energies to destroy a president who has been in office about three weeks.

Time to fight back. Take it over Rush's head and directly to the people, Mr. President. It worked for FDR. And forget the "bipartisanship." Waste of time.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. When will this hit the GOP-controlled media?

Will GOP voters be able to ignore this when (if) if does?

How bad is this going to get?