21,000 Jobs Worldwide Erased in Day as Recession Chokes Demand

http://themancommon.blogspot.com/2009/01/21000-jobs-worldwide-erased-in-day-as.html

By Oshrat Carmiel

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At least 21,000 jobs were targeted for elimination yesterday as employers from Hertz Global Holdings Inc. to Advanced Micro Devices Inc. grappled with recession-choked demand.

More than 20 companies said they were cutting jobs, ranging from Amonil SA, Romania’s second-biggest fertilizer maker, to Fiat SpA’s Magneti Marelli auto-parts division. Hertz, the second-largest U.S. rental-car company, said it will cut more than 4,000 jobs, as businesses and consumers slow travel because of the global recession.

“What you take away here is just how miserably profitability performed in the final quarter of ‘08,” said John Lonski, chief economist at Moody’s Capital Markets Group in New York, in an interview. “Companies cut back on staff when sales are significantly under expectation.”

About 2.1 million U.S. jobs will be lost in 2009, Lonski predicted, with 80 percent of the layoffs by the 4th of July.

“The downside risks facing the U.S. economy dwarf the upside potential that exists,” Lonski said.

WellPoint, the second-largest U.S. health insurer, will end 1,500 jobs, which include 600 workers and 900 open positions.

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