LayoffBlog.com

Unemployment in the San Francisco metropolitan area rose slightly to 9.5 percent in August from 9.4 percent in July, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday. The region, which includes San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties, had 5.4 percent unemployment in August. 2008.

Silicon Valley unemployment rose to 12 percent in August from 11.8 percent in July and 6.4 percent in August 2008.

Source: SFBusinessTimes

Five staffers in the Chronicle’s classified advertising department, four of them Guild members, agreed to job buyouts last week, according to the union, and “at least one voluntary layoff has been accepted in editorial.

Source: San Francisco Business Times

Yahoo Inc is moving the product development team for one of its key Web properties to Taiwan, the latest change within the Internet company as it moves to cut costs and revamp its online offering.

The product development and operations teams for the Yahoo News division will be based out of Taiwan, said Yahoo spokeswoman Kim Rubey. The types of jobs moving overseas include product management, engineering and user interface design, Rubey said.

Source: Forbes

PCB manufacturer TTM Technologies will close a pair of plants in California and lay off 347 workers because of continued weak demand in North America for PCBs and backplanes. The closures to the company’s plants Los Angeles and Hayward, CA, will put 263 and 84 employees, respectively, out of work. TTM will transfer PCB production from LA facility to other company sites in California, Utah and Wisconsin.

Source: CircuitAssembly

American Airlines may cut up to 23 airport services positions at Los Angeles International airport, according to a government notice the company filed in California today.

The workforce reduction is a result of the capacity cuts the Fort Worth-based carrier is making to its fall schedule and had previously announced in June. The notices were sent to 289 workers at LAX that could be affected by the job cuts.

Source: StarTelegram

San Francisco Chronicle management representatives met Friday with the San Francisco Media Workers Guild to discuss the Chronicle’s plans to slash additional jobs through both buyouts and layoffs, Guild officials said in an Aug. 28 statement.

Source: SF Business Times

Social web site Facebook Inc. is looking for hundreds of people to hire, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report, based on an Aug. 20 interview with Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said the Palo Alto, Calif. company plans to increase its work force by 50 percent this year. The business has about 900 workers right now.

Source: San Francisco Business Times

Kaiser Permanente on Tuesday disclosed plans to eliminate 1,200 jobs in Northern California (about 2 percent of its Northern California workforce), citing uncertainties over the economy, federal health care legislation and shrinking reimbursements for Medicare.

The jobs will be eliminated in the Bay Area, the Sacramento region, and the Central Valley area south to Fresno, Kaiser spokesman Jim Caroompas said.

Roughly one-third of the affected positions are temporary, on-call, or short-hour positions. All 1,200 of the positions are unionized.

Source: The Oakland Tribune

California’s economy, the world’s eighth largest, could see a jobless rate near a stunning 13 percent next year - a level associated more with Rust Belt states, not the home of Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

Source: Reuters

The Los Angeles Times will deliver the Orange County Register to homes and vending machines beginning in September, the two newspapers said Wednesday.
55 full-time and 143 part-time Register circulation and distribution workers would be laid off, and 721 independent contractors who deliver the Register would be affected.

Source: LATimes

~News submitted by upthecreek

Toyota’s dreaded moment is finally here: The Japanese automaker is set to shutter a major factory for the first time in its 73-year history, pulling the plug on a joint venture with General Motors and marking a new era of more aggressive cuts at the Japanese automaker.
Toyota will soon enter discussions to dissolve New United Motor Manufacturing, a 50-50 venture based in Fremont, California, that employs about 4,550 people.

Source: NYTimes

~News submitted by upthecreek

Toyota Motor Corp. said it is considering closing a vehicle-assembly plant in California that it jointly operates with General Motors Corp., after the U.S. automaker decided to pull out.
Because of its location in the San Francisco Bay area, the 4,600-worker Nummi facility is a high cost plant for the Japanese automaker.

Source: WSJ

California: Mammoth Hospital officials have laid out the fact that 20 staff members will either leave voluntarily or face lay-off in July. Monday’s meeting also revealed that the hospital has lost as much as $3.3 million a year for “several years.”

Source: SierraWave

~News submitted by upthecreek

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

California’s unemployment rate rose to 11.5 percent in May, which is not only the highest jobless rate there since World War II but also significantly higher than the national average of 9.4 percent.

Source: AHN

California’s economic recovery will be stymied by massive state work force cuts that could boost the unemployment rate to more than 12 percent and restrain growth even after housing markets stabilize, according to an economic forecast released Tuesday.

The quarterly Anderson Forecast from the University of California, Los Angeles predicted that 60,000 government positions would be eliminated as lawmakers try to reduce the state’s $24.3 billion deficit, making tepid growth likely until early 2011.

Source: San Jose Mercury News

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged the City Council to declare a fiscal emergency to hasten mandatory furloughs and layoffs for an additional 1,000 city workers.

Source: ATT Money News, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

According to rumors, 20 newsroom-based Media Workers Guild employees at the San Francisco Chronicle are laid off Thursday, May 8.

Source: SFIst via TheMediaIsDying

Roseville, CA city employees began receiving layoff notices last week as city officials attempt to close the $6.5 million gap for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. Before making layoff decisions city officials defunded a total of 89 positions, saving the budget $10 million. In addition, with the city’s early retirement incentive approaching May 15, there is a potential for 50 more positions to be left vacant.

Source: The Press Tribune

~News submitted by upthecreek

Sacramento County is considering whether to cut well over 1,000 positions to close a projected $187 million general fund shortfall in the fiscal year starting July 1.
The County Executive’s Office released Monday showing proposed cuts of 907 positions – 640 of which are filled. Those figures don’t include possible cuts to the Sheriff’s Department, the District Attorney’s Office or the Assessor’s Office. The proposed cuts would affect virtually all facets of county government, including: the office of county counsel, Public Defender’s Office, juvenile medical services, and Department of Health and Human Services.

Source: Sacramento Bee

~News submitted by upthecreek