How is this important unemployment is a very lagging indicator. In 2000 we had 4.0% unemployment where did we go from there in 1980 we had 9% Unemployement where did we go from there? ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat1.txt Besides "Small businesses play an important part in the United States economy. There are about 22.4 million non-farm firms in the U.S, according to 2001 data. Small businesses represent more than 99 percent of all employers. They also employ 51 percent of private-sector workers, 51 percent of workers on public assistance, and 38 percent of workers in high-tech jobs. Small businesses account for nearly all of the self-employed, which comprise of 7 percent of the work force. In addition, small businesses produce two-thirds to three-quarters of all the net new jobs. They also produce 51 percent of private sector output as well as represent 96 percent of all exporters of goods. Small businesses play a role in federal contracting as well. Small businesses obtain 33.3 percent of federal prime and subcontract dollars." from http://www.house.gov/smbiz/facts/ So how is this index helping it makes no mention of where almost 75% of new jobs come from? I guess we should fade this?
Good point. I guess this is one of those obvious indicators that the bears are well alive dreaming and the market is gonna spike more. 100% up room to go.
subtotal: 105 units total: 485 units Vacuum Maker Hoover to Cut 330 Jobs AT&T Plans to Cut 4,600 Jobs in 2004 Switzerland's Clariant to Cut 4,000 Jobs Hong Kong's PCCW cuts 83 IT jobs, blaming competition ING Groep to Cut 650 Jobs in Argentina UK Government Reform Could Save GBP15 Billion, Cut 80,000 Jobs Report GM has cut one-third of contract workers -4,400 white-collar contract jobs Home Depot Cutting Up to 100 Jobs Drug Maker Schering-Plough Lays Off 200 Germany's Lufthansa Reports Big 2003 Loss cut 8,000 jobs Lufthansa Reports Large 2003 Loss - shed some 8,000 jobs
SubTotal -10 units Total: -495 units Warner Music to Cut 1,000 Jobs Gateway to Cut Another 1,000 Jobs + Gateway to Cut Work Force by Over 2,000 Ford Expects to Finish Europe Job Cuts 6700 Cuts Textile Manufacturer Unifi Cuts 2 Plants 400 jobs
IBM to Cut Up to 13,000 Jobs, Take Chargehttp://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050505/ibm_cuts.html?.v=6 footnote: whatever job roles you are in (includign traders) are in danger. request: moderator, please change the subject of this thread to "Important Job Announcement Tracker". Thanks. ------------------- "You owe me money!" -- Bert.
GM to slash 25,000 jobs WILMINGTON, Delaware (AP) -- General Motors Corp. plans to close plants and eliminate 25,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States by 2008 in an attempt to restore profitability at the world's largest automaker, its chairman said Tuesday as he fended off calls for his resignation. Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner told shareholders at GM's 97th annual meeting in Delaware that the capacity and job cuts should generate annual savings of roughly $2.5 billion. About one out of six jobs in the United States will be eliminated. The United Auto Workers union responded that GM's ability to make the cuts will depend on worker attrition rates and its contract negotiations with the union. GM's UAW contract expires in 2007. "The UAW is not convinced that GM can simply shrink its way out of its current problems. What's needed is an intense focus on rebuilding GM's U.S. market share, and the way to get there is by offering the right product mix of vehicles with world-class design and quality," said UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker, who directs negotiations with GM. Wagoner revealed the cutbacks as he laid out a strategy to invigorate GM's North American operations, its biggest and most troubled, amid lackluster sales of its highly profitable trucks and sport utility vehicles, which have been hurt by high fuel prices. GM posted a $1.1 billion loss in the first quarter and its U.S. market share has fallen to 25.4 percent from 27 percent a year ago, as customers increasingly are choosing models from Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and other Asian automakers. The cuts would be on top of earlier reductions that pared GM's U.S. workforce from 177,000 hourly and salaried employees at the end of 2000 to 150,000 at the end of last year, according to figures provided by GM. "Let me say up front that our absolute top priority is to get our largest business unit back to profitability as soon as possible," said Wagoner, who added that with $20 billion in cash and short-term investments, GM is in no danger of going out of business anytime soon. "But if we don't fundamentally get at these structural issues - whether it's gee-whiz, exciting products, or the right distribution, or a solid cost structure in every element of business - the risk of continually being weakened over time is real," he said. Wagoner wouldn't say which plants are in danger of being closed, but David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., said the most likely targets are several older plants. Those include facilities in Janesville, Wis.; Doraville, Ga.; Oklahoma City and Pontiac, Mich., he said. The Janesville plant was built in 1919 and the Doraville plant was built in 1947. The other two plants were built in the 1970s. Cole said GM probably won't close plants that have recently undergone costly renovations, such as the plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that recently got $1 billion worth of upgrades. Disgruntled shareholders, who saw the value of their shares fall to a 10-year low in April, gave Wagoner an earful on Tuesday. "This company is sick," said James Dollinger, a Buick salesman from Flint, Mich., who angrily told Wagoner he should resign. Fellow shareholder John Lauve compared the GM leadership to officers aboard the Titanic as it headed for an iceberg. "The Titanic sank because the directors ignored the warnings," said Lauve, who criticized everything from gas gauges in GM vehicles to the company's health-care cards. "We need to excel at the basics." Fending off such criticism, Wagoner outlined four priorities: increasing spending on new cars and trucks; clarifying the role of each of GM's eight brands; intensifying efforts to reduce costs and improve quality; and continuing to search for ways to reduce skyrocketing health-care expenses. He noted that health-care expenses add $1,500 to the cost of each GM vehicle. This puts GM at a "significant disadvantage versus foreign-based competitors," Wagoner said, echoing comments made by the Standard and Poor's and Fitch ratings services after both reduced the company's bond rating to "junk" status last month. Wagoner described as intense the status of ongoing negotiations with the United Auto Workers and other unions on ways to significantly reduce GM's health-care costs. GM's health-care tab for its 1.1 million current and former workers and their families is more than $5 billion a year and rising. "We have not reached an agreement at this time, and to be honest, I'm not 100 percent that we will," said Wagoner, the CEO since 2000 and chairman since 2003. To date, the UAW has indicated it won't reopen its contract, which expires in 2007, and agree to pick up a larger share of soaring health-care costs. Messages left Tuesday with the UAW were not returned. Wagoner said another part of the company's strategy is to make GM's eight brands more distinct from each other. Chevrolet and Cadillac will continue to have full vehicle lineups, he said, but the company's other six brands - GMC, Pontiac, Buick, Saturn, Saab and Hummer - will be more tightly focused on niche markets. "In some cases, such as Pontiac and Buick, it will mean fewer but stronger entries in the future," Wagoner said. Wagoner said the company also plans to put less emphasis on incentives and focus more effort on selling GM vehicles in top markets like New York, Miami and Los Angeles. General Motors shares rose 31 cents, or 1 percent, to close at $30.73 on the New York Stock Exchange. That is near the $31 a share offer made by billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian for 28 million GM shares. Kerkorian's offer expired Tuesday; a spokeswoman for Kerkorian's investment firm, Tracinda Corp., said the results would be announced Wednesday. Wagoner said it was vital for the company to cut costs by improving efficiency at its manufacturing plants. He said plant closings and idlings in recent months will reduce assembly capacity in North America from 6 million vehicles in 2002 to 5 million by the end of this year. According to the Harbour Report, an annual productivity survey released last week, GM's 30 North American plants operated at an average of 85 percent of their capacity in 2004, compared to an average of 107 percent for Toyota's six North American plants. GM already shut a factory in Linden, N.J., in April and a factory in Baltimore in May, affecting about 2,000 employees. --------------------------------------- "You owe me money!" -- Bert