Is your firm on the layoff list?

he U.S. job market weakened in October as demand for goods and services continues to decline, a private research group said on Monday. The Conference Board said its Employment Trends Index recorded a 15-month-long decline to 105.3 in October from a revised 107.2 in September, first reported as 108.4. The index is down 11.8 percent from a year ago. “The economic developments of the last two months made it clear to businesses that demand for goods and services in the U.S. is declining, and businesses are responding by aggressively slashing their payrolls,” said Gad Levanon, economist at the Conference Board, in a report. “Unfortunately, it seems this environment will persist for several more quarters and business leaders will continue reducing their workforce,” he added. Here’s a rundown of some of the recently announced job cuts: (source: Reuters, with CNBC staff): * Circuit City [CC 1.02 0.77 (+308%)], which is filing for bankruptcy, is laying off about 17 percent of its domestic work force, which could affect up to 7,300 people. * Deutsche Post [AG 28.98 0.92 (+3.28%)], German mail and logistics company Deutsche Post will cut 9,500 jobs at its DHL unit in the U.S. and eliminate U.S.-only domestic express shipping.The new round of cuts are on top of another 5,400 job cuts it already announced. * Nortel Networks [NT 0.95 -0.22 (-18.8%)] plans to lay off 1300 workers, nearly 5 percent of its workforce. * Motorola [MOT 4.50 -0.29 (-6.05%)] posted a third-quarter net loss and revenue fell a steeper-than-expected 15 percent, as a result the telecom equipment maker will slash 3,000 jobs in a cost-cutting effort. * Ford [F 1.93 -0.09 (-4.46%)] said it would cut 2,260 white-collar workers in North America. * General Motors [GM 3.36 -1.00 (-22.94%)], which previously said it would reduce salaried employment costs by 20 percent, will also cut another 1,900 salaried jobs on top of the 5,100 announced last summer. GM also said it is reducing some employee benefits, including 401 k contributions and other programs. * Fidelity Investments will start laying off about 2.9 percent of its global workforce later this month—affecting 1,288 workers in the first round from a workforce of 44,4000—and plans to trim more workers early next year. * Toy maker Mattel Inc. [MAT 14.81 -0.08 (-0.54%)] says it is cutting some 1,000 positions worldwide in response to the ongoing economic downturn. The El Segundo-based company says the positions amount to 3 percent of the company’s worldwide workforce and will reduce its professional and management staff by 8 percent. Cuts will come from a combination of layoffs, attrition and retirements, the company said. * Goldman Sachs [GS 71.21 -6.57 (-8.45%)] notified roughly 3,200 employees this week that they have been laid off, part of previously reported plans to slash 10 percent of the firm’s global work force. The move comes after laying off hundreds of support staff and junior bankers in June. The company had a record 32,569 employees in August and the latest cuts reduce headcount to the lowest since 2006. * At Merrill Lynch [MER 15.51 -1.24 (-7.41%)], 10,000 employees could be jettisoned as a result of the merger with Bank of America [BAC 19.48 -1.01 (-4.93%)]. * Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets said in June it expected to eliminate about 7,500 jobs over the next two years after the completion of its acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest U.S. mortgage lender. * Barclay’s [BCS 11.45 -1.00 (-8.03%)] plans to cut about 3,000 jobs as it brings Lehman Brothers into its fold. Lehman, which filed for bankruptcy last month, had 26,000 employees. About 10,000 have been given jobs until at least the end of the year. * The lack of merger and acquisitions and initial public offerings is hitting Morgan Stanley [MS 14.58 -1.40 (-8.76%)] hard. The U.S. investment bank said on July 31 it was finished cutting jobs, having slashed 4,800 jobs in the past year but some analysts expect Morgan could lay off 15 percent of its work force. * Even the more stable JPMorgan Chase [JPM 36.41 -1.34 (-3.55%)] is looking at cutting at least 10 percent and maybe 15 percent of its workforce. It has over 180,000 employees globally, including 25,000 in investment banking. * Citigroup [C 11.21 -0.61 (-5.16%)] cut 11,000 jobs during their third quarter, which brought the total number of jobs cuts in 2008 to 23,000. Citigroup also is drawing up lists of employees in a division including investment banking who will be let go in another round of layoffs, people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The layoffs are part of Citigroup’s previously announced plans to reduce headcount by about 9,100 across the company by next October. * Wachovia [WB 5.48 -0.09 (-1.62%)], said in August it would cut 6,950 jobs, 600 more than it had previously disclosed. * UBS [UBS 14.50 -0.49 (-3.27%)] said at the beginning of October it would cut another 2,000 jobs at its troubled investment bank. The job losses come on top of 7,000 jobs already cut, about 4,100 of which were in investment banking positions cut in the past year. The bank will have reduced its headcount by more than 10 percent to under 80,000. * Credit Suisse [CSGKF 32.298 0.298 (+0.93%)] has axed more than 1,500 jobs, the majority in investment banking in the last year since 2007, and on Tuesday it said it would cut 500 more jobs. * HSBC [HBCYF 11.1 -0.55 (-4.72%)] said late last month it was cutting 1,100 jobs in its investment banking operation, or 4 percent of the workforce. * Commerzbank [CBK.DE Unavailable ()] announced its plan to cut 9,000 jobs in the wake of its agreement to purchase Dresdner Bank from Allianz [AZ 8.20 -0.40 (-4.65%)]. About 2,500 jobs of the 9,000 cuts will be outside Germany. * UniCredit [UNCFF 2.7 — UNCH (0)], Europe’s fourth-largest bank said in June it would shed 9,000 posts out of 100,000 in Germany, Austria and its domestic base Italy. * First American [FAF 22.07 -0.98 (-4.25%)], the largest U.S. title insurer, by reported revenue said last month it cut 1,250 jobs in the third quarter, bringing the total for the year to about 2,950, or 8 percent of its workforce. It has cut roughly 6,500 jobs since the first quarter of 2007. * National City Corp [FAF 22.07 -0.98 (-4.25%)] said last week it planned to reduce 4,000 jobs, or 14 percent of its workforce, over three years to save $500 million to $600 million annually by 2011. * Computer maker Dell [DELL 11.86 -0.69 (-5.5%)], which is nearing the end of nearly 9,000 job cuts, has asked employees to consider taking up to five days of unpaid vacation, is offering voluntary severance packages and has instituted a global hiring freeze. * Nissan [NSANF 10.9 — UNCH (0)] announced layoffs affecting 2,500 salaried jobs overseas and 1,000 temporary posts in Japan amid plans to cut vehicle productions globally. * Privately held Chrysler said it was cutting about 5,000 salaried employees. Earlier in the week, it said was slashing 1,825 jobs as the result of plant closings. * Money manager Janus Capital [JNS 8.33 -1.54 (-15.61%)] said it would cut 9 percent of its staff a day after rival AllianceBernstein said it would make unprecedented job cuts. * Xerox [XRX 7.20 -0.12 (-1.64%)] announced job cuts of 5 percent, or 3,000 positions, due to a “tough business environment.” * Mining equipment maker Terex [TEX 14.38 -0.66 (-4.39%)] said it would lay off hundreds of workers and suspend its share buyback program to preserve cash. * Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide [HOT 17.73 -1.21 (-6.39%)] said it plans to cut an unspecified number of jobs to offset slowing travel demand. * Computer systems vendor Agilysys [AGYS 3.57 -0.23 (-6.05%)] cut three senior management positions and is consolidating headquarters in Ohio. * American Century says is plans to cut 270 jobs this week, reducing workforce by 17 percent. They insist that no portfolio managers are to be affected by the impending job cuts. * Merck [MRK 27.91 -1.01 (-3.49%)] announced plans on Wednesday to cut 12 percent of its workforce, citing a need to change its business model in order to survive. * Fidelity National Financial [FNF 10.10 -1.13 (-10.06%)], which controls one of the largest U.S. title insurers, announced 1,000 job cuts, office closings, a 10 percent pay cut and a 50 percent dividend cut, which comes on top of 1,600 job eliminations in the April-to-June period. * Biotechnology company Maxygen [MAXY 4.23 -0.43 (-9.23%)] plans to cut nearly 30 percent of its workforce and explore strategic options due to the current financial environment * Popular Inc. [BPOP 6.51 -0.39 (-5.65%)], parent of Banco Popular, is cutting 600 positions and more than a quarter of its branches in the United States.

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juventurd Wrote: > That actually seems pretty smart. In a huge > company, even a day or two of payroll can save > huge dough. Is this a common thing? Very common in the former Soviet Union.

My firm is in the list. But our department doesn’t forsee any layoff’s in the near future. It’s the IBanking div that’s troublesome.

Dinesh - Are you with Barlays?

Dinesh - Are you with Barlays?

nopes, I didn’t decide to stay there. We were taken by Barclays Wealth. Found a better gig so moved on.

juventurd Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > < of nearly 9,000 job cuts, has asked employees to > consider taking up to five days of unpaid > vacation. > > That actually seems pretty smart. In a huge > company, even a day or two of payroll can save > huge dough. Is this a common thing? My company (not on this list) whacked a bunch of jobs in March and then reassured us that they cut enough to last for the next 18 months. A few months later, they asked for volunteers to take 3-4 weeks off during the spring and summer and use vacation time. Everyone saw the writing on the wall. They did another round in September (I didn’t escape this one) and will likely do one more prior to year-end. I have a feeling there will be some really big numbers being let go in the next 6 weeks.

anyone in financial services who thinks they are immune to this tsunami is in denial.