LayoffBlog.com

President Barack Obama is considering a mix of spending programs and tax cuts to respond to widening job losses that would amount to an additional economic stimulus without carrying that label.

Source: Bloomberg

Layoff notices were set to go out Friday to nearly 3,000 Philadelphia city workers, including hundreds of police officers and firefighters, as the cash-strapped city struggles to close a massive budget gap.

Source: Philly.com

China’s state-owned enterprises may unilaterally terminate commodities contracts as they try to cut massive losses from financial derivatives, an industry source told Caijing on August 28.

According to the source, China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) has sent notice to six foreign financial institutions informing them that several state-owned enterprise will reserve the right to default on commodities contracts signed with those institutions.

Most investment banks may “just swallow” any losses arising from canceled contracts, the executive said, adding that any losses are usually made up for with compensating trades.

Source: Caijing.com.cn

BAE systems said Wednesday that it is laying off 360 employees out of about 1,800 at its Coleman Avenue operation in Santa Clara — 20 percent of the workforce. The reduction is due to the Army’s cancellation of the Future Combat Systems Manned Ground Vehicle program, the company said.

Source: MercuryNews

More than two dozen San Mateo County Superior Court employees were told Tuesday that they will be laid off Oct. 2 due to a budget deficit only recently discovered. Court officials said last week that as many as 60 employees could be laid off as a result of a $4 million shortfall in the fiscal year that ended June 30, due to financial forecasting errors.

Source: San Jose Mercury News

Indian software industry association Nasscom says the U.S. Congress should consider changing laws to allow foreign workers in the United States for a limited amount of time. The proposed visa would not lead to immigration status or permanent residency.

Read full article: eWeek.com

The sheriff in Alabama’s most populous county may call for the National Guard to help maintain order, a spokesman said Tuesday, after a judge cleared the way for cuts in the sheriff’s budget and hopes dimmed for a quick end to a budget crisis.

Source: YahooNews, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

Household income in the U.S. is weakening as the influence of the government’s stimulus plan fades, prompting economists, Federal Reserve officials and a Nobel laureate to warn that consumer spending may stumble.

Source: Bloomberg

Alabama’s debt-ridden Jefferson County laid off about two-thirds of its 3,600 employees on Monday because of plummeting revenues, a move that will sharply curtail services in areas ranging from roads to courthouses.

Source: Reuters

~News submitted by upthecreek

Philadelphia Mayor Nutter this afternoon said the consequences of inaction in Harrisburg[regarding Pennsylvania budget] could be up to 3,000 job cuts in City Hall, the bulk of them layoffs. And the steps needed to take those actions could begin as soon as mid-August.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

The Labor Department said Thursday that the initial claims for unemployment aid rose by 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 584,000, above analysts’ estimates. But the figure is below the 617,000 new claims filed in late June, before the numbers began to be distorted by a shift in the timing of temporary auto shutdowns.

Source: GoogleNews, AP

Mississippi furniture makers have shed about 1,000 jobs since Gov. Haley Barbour vetoed a tax incentive bill in April and industry leaders want a meeting with the governor to address their troubles.

Source: CBNC, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

State regulators shut down seven regional banks Friday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said, bringing the total number of banks to fail in the United States to 64 this year. [..] Friday’s seven closures will cost the FDIC fund $812.6 million, bringing the total cost for failed banks to $14.21 billion this year.

Source: CNNMoney

“Congress has increased the cost of unskilled labor by 10.7% in the middle of the worst recession since the early 1980s. The unemployment rate is 9.5%. It is unclear how this is supposed to help the economy – unless you are Labor Secretary Solis or the Economic Policy Institute. The claim is that this will produce $5 billion in increased income and spending. One simple question – where does this $5 billion come from? ” ~ William Dunkelberg, Economics Professor, Temple University

Source: CNBC

The governors and congressional delegations of Vermont and New Hampshire are asking the Labor Department to move quickly to provide help to 250 workers to be laid off at the Ethan Allen furniture plant in Vermont.

Source: CNBC

~News submitted by upthecreek

Big defense contractors could be poised to shed jobs as the Pentagon cuts traditional weapons spending, while smaller, niche companies may ramp up their hiring as the United States expands resources to protect ground troops and computer networks.

Lockheed Martin Corp said it would cut 600 jobs, as a result of the U.S. Defense Department’s decision to terminate the VH-71 presidential helicopter program.

Aircraft maker Boeing Co said announced Pentagon cuts would claim 1,000 jobs in its defense business, affecting staffing at various U.S. work sites in missile defense and in the Army’s Future Combat Systems modernization program, which is being opened to more competition.

Source: Reuters

American International Group’s recent discussions with President Obama’s compensation czar have centered on whether the company should pay about $250 million in promised bonuses that come due during the next nine months.
But of greater concern to both sides is what to do about the vastly larger sum that comes due in March 2010, when AIG is scheduled to pay more than $200 million in bonuses aimed at retaining executives at AIG Financial Products, the unit whose complex derivative contracts nearly wrecked the insurance giant last fall.

Source: TheWashingtonPost

President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package will help put 14,200 teens and young adults to work this summer in Ohio, and most of the stimulus-funded highway projects in the state are reaching economically distressed areas, according to a federal report released Wednesday.

Source: CNBC, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

Pennsylvania enters its second week without an approved budget. Republicans and the Governor agreed on $72 million in cuts spread out over four departments. $34 million of that would come from the Department of Public Welfare.

The Governor says there could be 500-800 jobs lost because of those cuts.

Source: Fox43

[..] 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