LayoffBlog.com

Amazon.com Inc. has informed its marketing affiliates in Hawaii that it is ending its business with them to avoid collecting sales tax in the state.

Source: WSJ

Johnson Outdoors Inc., which makes kayaks, dive equipment and tents, said Tuesday it is closing a plant in Ferndale, Wash., eliminating 90 jobs.

Source: Forbes, AP

The high-tech industry might finally be hitting rock bottom, according to Forrester Research, which Tuesday forecast global IT spending to decline by nearly 11% in 2009 before vendors and end-user organizations begin to see some signs of recovery later this year and early next.

Source: NetworkWorld

Chrysler Financial will cut about 350 jobs and close a customer service center near Kansas City due to tight credit and weak car sales, the financial services firm said on Tuesday.

Source: Reuters

Adobe Inc., the world’s biggest maker of graphic-design software, shut down North American operations this week, part of a plan to cut operating costs as the recession crimps sales. Adobe told employees in March it would impose one-week closures in the second, third and fourth quarters, and asked staff to take paid vacation time, the company said today.

“These are in addition to the normal holiday shutdown” between Christmas and New Year’s Day, San Jose, California-based Adobe said in an e-mail.

Source: Bloomberg

Vibe, the popular hip-hop and urban culture magazine founded by legendary producer Quincy Jones, is shutting down. The company’s 50 or so employees will be laid off.

Source: CNBC, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

The maker of Scotch tape, Post-it notes and other industrial and consumer products said it laid off 1,000 workers in its second quarter ended Monday.

More cuts are planned, including the elimination of 100 information technology jobs at its Minneapolis area headquarters over the next year. No other information about layoff plans was available.

Source: Austin Business Journal

Deere & Co. said Tuesday about 800 salaried workers have decided to leave the world’s largest farm machinery maker under a voluntary separation program.

Source: Google News, AP

The U.S. unemployment rate in May climbed to a quarter-century high of 9.4 percent in May. The unemployment rates rose in 46 of the largest 49 metro areas. Bismarck, N.D., posted the lowest jobless rate of 3.5 percent. El Centro, Calif., again posted the highest unemployment rate in the country — 26.8 percent.

Source: Google News, AP

Fox’s Los Angeles KTTV-TV/KCOP-TV duopoly on Friday took a step toward possible companywide layoffs. A spokeswoman for the stations confirmed that 95 staffers on Friday were given 60-day layoff notices.

The notices may or may not be followed by layoffs, depending on whether the economic climate will improve in the next couple of months.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

A homeless man is on trial in San Mateo County on charges that he smacked a fellow transient in the face with a skateboard as the victim was engaged in a conversation about quantum physics, authorities said Wednesday.

Source: SFGate

U.S. regulators closed four small banks on Friday: Community Bank of West Georgia;
Neighborhood Community Bank, of Newnan, Georgia; Horizon Bank, of Pine City, Minnesota; MetroPacific Bank, of Irvine, California, bringing the total of U.S. bank failures to 44 this year.

Source: Reuters

Leaders of the BAE Systems Electronic Solutions segment in Nashua, N.H., are set to lay off 250 non-engineering employees by 31 Aug. in an effort to sharpen the company’s focus on small, lightweight defense electronics systems for infantry soldiers, situational awareness, and other military priorities of the Obama Administration, company officials announced today.

Source: Military & Aerospace Electronics

Household-products maker Kimberly-Clark said Thursday it plans to cut 1,600 jobs, or 3 percent of its global work force, as it slims down in the tough economy.

Source: CNBC, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

United Airlines said Monday that it plans to cut 600 additional flight attendant jobs, effective Aug. 31, as the carrier struggles with lower-than-anticipated attrition and a steep drop in air travel.

Cuts are in addition to the 1,550 flight attendant positions that United eliminated last year.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Tech staff may be insulated from further job cuts resulting from the recession according to the latest research from the government backed skills councils e-skills UK.

Nine out ten companies say they have no plans to cut back on their IT headcount despite making redundancies in other areas

Source: eWeek Europe

Chrysler Group LLC will shut a Dodge Ram pickup factory in Missouri on July 10 while General Motors Corp. will close a sport-utility vehicle plant by 2012 as they shrink operations under U.S.-backed restructuring plans.

Source: Bloomberg

Monsanto Co., the world’s biggest seed maker, said Wednesday its third-quarter profit fell 14 percent and disclosed plans to cut 900 jobs, or about 4 percent of its work force.

Source: NYTimes, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

About 4,000 more salaried workers at General Motors Corp. will lose their jobs by the end of the year as the automaker continues to downsize.

Source: StarTribune, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

[..] In Chicago, with a police force of about 13,000, the number of vacancies has climbed to more than 400 since January 2008 because the department is not hiring to keep up with the number of officers who leave. The city could be down 800 officers by the end of the year [..]

Source: CNBC, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek