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IBM Employees On Edge – More Layoffs?

March 1, 2010 By Chuck

The ‘inside’ rumor mill at IBM has the company on the precipice of announcing layoffs at Big Blue.

According the web site Alliance at IBM, employees at the Research Triangle Park facility in Raleigh, NC would likely be impacted. Although the site does mention other sites as well that might be in line for what IBM calls a ‘resource action’.

[…] IBM wouldn’t discuss the reports.

“As you know, we don’t comment on speculation and rumor,” IBM’s Doug Shelton said when contacted by Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com.

Employees at a WebSphere development and support lab in Silicon Valley have reported a “big RA” is expected there with an “estimated 40-50%” of the staff to be “RA’d” on Monday, according to a post on the Alliance@IBM Web site. The Alliance is the union affiliate that is seeking to represent IBM workers.

Other posts at the Alliance site comments section (Read the comments section here) indicate that workers in the IBM Systems and Technology Group and the Integrated Technology Delivery groups could be affected.

The increasing number of posts and other information funneled to the Web site led the Alliance to issue an alert to selected media outlets on Saturday morning.

“The Alliance@IBM is getting reports of a job cut/resource action for Monday March 1st,” wrote Alliance National Coordinator Lee Conrad.

“We always expect cuts,” Conrad told Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com. “It is the date that is the guessing game.”

Other workers in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are already being affected.[…] (Source: WRAL)

That seems to be the new normal these days, need to increase margins? Layoff more and more workers. They have to keep those shareholders happy you know.

Filed Under: Market Updates Tagged With: , ,

Mass Layoffs – Unemployment

June 23, 2009 By Chuck

Time for the ‘Mass Layoff Statistics’ from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the report released June 23, 2009. (hat tip FM)

Mass Layoff definition:

Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.

Mass Layoffs

Mass Layoffs

Report for June 23:

Employers took 2,933 mass layoff actions in May that resulted in the
separation of 312,880 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new
filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the Bureau
of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Each
action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer. The number
of mass layoff events in May increased by 221 from the prior month, and
the number of associated initial claims increased by 41,654. Over the
year, the number of mass layoff events increased by 1,232 and associated
initial claims increased by 132,322. Initial claims rose to its highest
level on record, while events matched the peak level from March 2009,
with data available back to 1995. In May, 1,331 mass layoff events were
reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in
165,802 initial claims. Over the year, manufacturing events and initial
claims more than doubled.
During the 18 months from December 2007 through May 2009, the total
number of mass layoff events (seasonally adjusted) was 37,059, and the
number of initial claims (seasonally adjusted) was 3,811,307. (December
2007 was the start of a recession as designated by the National Bureau
of Economic Research.)
The national unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in May 2009, seasonally
adjusted, up from 8.9 percent the prior month and from 5.5 percent a year
earlier. In May, total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 345,000
over the month and by 5,366,000 from a year earlier.
The number of mass layoff events in May was 2,738, and the number of
associated initial claims was 289,628. (See table 2.) Over the year,
increases were recorded in both the number of mass layoff events (+1,186)
and initial claims (+130,157).
This year, both average weekly events and
initial claimants reached their highest May levels in program history;
data are available back to 1995. (Average weekly analysis mitigates the
effect of differing lengths of months. See the Technical Note.) Eleven
of the 19 major industry sectors reported program highs in terms of aver-
age weekly initial claimants for the month of May–mining; construction;
manufacturing; wholesale trade; retail trade; finance and insurance; real
estate and rental and leasing; management of companies and enterprises;
administrative and waste services; health care and social assistance; and
accommodation and food services. Government also reported a program high
in terms of average weekly initial claimants for the month of May.
More on this topic (What's this?)
Why is the Journal Mystified that Some Employers Are Having Trouble Finding Workers? (naked capitalism, 8/9/10)
The Upside of the Downside (Financial Armageddon, 8/19/10)
Jon Stewart Takes on the Unemployment Crisis (Red Hot Energy and Gold - Global..., 7/8/10)
Read more on Unemployment (U.S.), Insurance at Wikinvest
Filed Under: Market Updates Tagged With: ,