Mass Layoffs in S. Florida-Depression hitting hard

Employers have been dismissing more workers in mass layoffs in recent months, both nationally and in South Florida.

BY SCOTT ANDRON
SANDRON@MIAMIHERALD.COM
After 21 years at the same Fort Lauderdale boat company, Robert Mulder lost his job. Mulder was laid off in November along with dozens of his co-workers, and now they face a job market that's expected to get worse.

Mass layoffs are putting more people like Mulder out of work. The U.S. Department of Labor said Wednesday that 238,000 people lost their jobs in mass layoffs nationwide in January, a 60 percent increase from January 2007.

Nearly 2,600 people have been affected in Broward and Miami-Dade counties so far this year -- and it's only February.

This time last year, the number was less than 900.

Many of them face the prospect of long-term unemployment. Mulder and countless others, well-established in their careers, were suddenly thrust into a labor market that hasn't enough jobs to go around.

''It's pretty tough out there,'' said Mulder, who was his company's accounting manager and assistant controller. ``Hopefully something will turn around, but you listen to the news and you get more depressed about what's going to happen. I'm looking for stuff at lower salaries, temp to perm, anything.''

But the cuts won't affect only the people whose jobs are eliminated. As the number of available jobs shrinks, competition will be keen for whatever's left. That could push down wages.

''It isn't just bad for people who are losing their jobs,'' said Bruce Nissen, a labor sociologist at Florida International University. ``It's bad for everybody in terms of our incomes.''

The layoffs, which the Labor Department says affected 19,301 Floridians in January, cut across industries and geography.

The department defines mass layoffs as those involving 50 or more workers at a single company. Florida companies sometimes disclose smaller cuts to the state but also may fail to disclose larger cuts.
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Whatever the causes, mass layoffs can have a deep and lasting effect. Those laid off tend to be older and have years invested in their careers, said University of Florida economist Dave Denslow.

These people have found work they are comfortable with, and are abruptly forced to start over.

''It takes them a long time to find a new job,'' Denslow said, adding they often have to take a pay cut. What's more, research suggests that even years later, they may still be making less than their peers who were never let go.

''On average,'' Denslow said, ``you're hurt forever.''

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Depression Here: Walmart and Sams Club Lays off 700!

Wal-Mart Lays Off Workers
LAST UPDATED TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009 12:22 PM CST IN NEWS
By THE MORNING NEWS
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., began laying off 700 employees at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club home offices this morning, according to two sources.
Ed Clifford, president of the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce, said he began hearing of the layoffs about 9:30 a.m. today. He said the effect of the action will be widespread across Northwest Arkansas.
A woman who said she lost her job today as a recruiting coordinator for Wal-Mart told The Morning News that she was called into a meeting at 8:30 a.m. with a group of other people from her department and was told that they were among 700 people being laid off.
Those being laid off were given packets with information about severance arrangements and escorted from the building, she said. They will be allowed to come back after hours to retrieve personal belongings and clean out their desks, she added.
"You could tell who was leaving because we all had our folders with us," she said. "It was very quiet."

Messages seeking comment have not yet been returned from Wal-Mart.

Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas, said the job losses would have a "multiplier" effect.

"It's never good news and particularly when you talk about a bedrock company like Wal-Mart that has such a multiplier effect in the community, where each job lost affects other jobs, because people don't shop or eat out.

"It is bad out there. I don't think it's hard to overstate right now just how bad it is. Consumers have a complete lack of confidence because there is no safe haven -- no job is a safe job."

Wal-Mart Stores posted a 2.1 percent increase in same-store sales in the U.S. in the fourth quarter. Deck said though Wal-Mart is performing relatively well in the retail sector, "the company must be thinking strategically about costs and its work force."
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DHL CARGO has serious problems

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/09/news...e.ap/index.htm

DHL could see big layoffs: report
November 9, 2008: 9:13 AM ET

BERLIN (AP) -- Deutsche Post AG plans to announce a cost-saving program that could result in thousands of layoffs at its DHL cargo shipper in the United States, a German weekly reported Sunday.

Deutsche Post spokeswoman Barbara Scheil refused to comment on the report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, ahead of a news conference planned for Monday.

The paper reported that as many as 40,000 jobs could be threatened, roughly half of them at the DHL's U.S. Express business. DHL employs thousands at an air cargo facility in Wilmington, Ohio, whose jobs could be threatened.

Deutsche Post slashed its earnings forecasts for both 2008 and 2009 late last month, saying it expects pretax profit to fall 8 percent in the third quarter "as the global economic environment deteriorated markedly."

Tough competition from UPS (UPS, Fortune 500) and FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500) also has taken some of DHL's share of the valuable U.S. market. Reports suggest that both FedEx and UPS have taken major customers from DHL in recent weeks, including online merchants, major drug store chains and franchise businesses.

Comments: Every sector is being affected by these massive layoffs. I can't see a depression being avoided. FEDEX USPS and UPS are also laying off, this means they anticipate buyers will be not buying anything for Christmas ..looks like it could be catastrophic!

BIG Problems with Mercedes BENZ/BMW/PORSCHE

With the economy slowing and demand for new vehicles shrinking, Mercedes-Benz is offering buyout packages to the nearly 4,000 workers at its Alabama plant for the first time since the factory opened 11 years ago."We're responding to the demand in the marketplace by reducing our operations here at Mercedes Vance," said Taylor, president and chief executive of MBUSI.

No GM/Chrysler Money from the Govt. CNBC says
"The development adds a new element of uncertainty for the embattled U.S. auto industry as Detroit's political allies warn the sector faces a deepening financial crisis that threatens tens of thousands of jobs."
BMW to lay off up to 733 temporary workers

As many as 733 temporary workers at BMW’s Greer plant will be laid off in December as the German automaker begins to feel the effects of the world financial crisis.
BERLIN — The German automaker Porsche AG said Sunday it will slow production at its main plant for upgrade work at the end of the year and acknowledged that the global financial crisis had hit the auto industry hard.
Car makers across Europe are cutting production and jobs because of the economic crisis. German competitors Daimler AG and BMW AG said last month they would cut production, change deliveries or temporarily shut plants to accommodate a fall in demand.
Ford's U.S. auto sales plummeted 30 percent and Toyota's dropped 23 percent in October as low consumer confidence and tight credit combined to scare customers away from their showrooms.


Comment: My estimation is that the many of these high end car dealers will be the first to go in the coming depression. First, the rich become more frugal with their money. (that is how they become rich in the first place.) Secondly, the middles class will not be able to afford even a used Mercedes, due to the rich company becoming more frugal in keeping employees on their payroll ( LAYOFFS). The trickle down affect will become more serious as the months go by. The poor.. well they will just be happy to eat. I guess I wonder if this means we are in worse shape than the Great Depression at this point. I mean these guys survived the Depression but they can not survive this " recession"?