Sadly, we are already in a recession, and job losses are spreading across the states. Layoffs beget other layoffs, as the unemployed workers stop buying new houses, clothing, furniture, automobiles, appliances, dinners out, and so on down the line. Then those companies face cash flow shortages, and will in turn have to make layoffs to compensate.
Below the fold is a list of layoffs announced thus far in 2008. I'm sure this list is by far not complete.
Tech layoffs - this batch courtsey of the TechCrunch Layoff Tracker. Major layoffs are bolded.
* Total Layoffs: 49
* Total Employees: 20,494
Company Date Location # % Source
Daptiv October 23, 2008 Seattle 21 14% TechFlash
Avid Technology October 23, 2008 500 Yahoo Finance
WildTangent October 23, 2008 Redmond 20 20% TechFlash
Haute Secure October 23, 2008 Seattle 3 50% TechCrunch
XeroxCorp October 23, 2008 world-wide 3,000 5% WSJ
Cake Financial October 23, 2008 San Francisco, CA 6 30% internal blog
ManiaTV October 22, 2008 Los Angeles 20 25% NewTeeVee
Mercent October 22, 2008 Seattle 6 12% Seattle Times
Mahalo October 22, 2008 Santa Monica, CA 6 10% TechCrunch
Dell October 22, 2008 Round Rock, Texas 8,900 10% Reuters
imeem October 22, 2008 San Francisco, CA 20 25% TechCrunch
TicketMaster October 22, 2008 New York, NY 300 5% Billboard.biz
Timebridge October 22, 2008 San Francisco, CA 9 TechCrunch
Manhattan Associates October 21, 2008 Across US 150 6% Reuters
Veoh October 21, 2008 St. Petersburg, Russia 15 Silicon Alley Insider
Yahoo October 21, 2008 Sunnyvale, CA 1,500 10% TechCrunch
Veoh October 20, 2008 St. Petersburg, Russia 15 12% NewTeeVee
Eons October 20, 2008 Boston, MA 8 24% Boston Globe
Wikia October 20, 2008 San Mateo, California 3 10% TechCrunch
Meraki October 20, 2008 San Francisco, CA 10 20% TechCrunch
Break.com October 20, 2008 Los Angeles 11 12% CNet
Softchoice October 20, 2008 Across North America 62 6% The Star
Pandora October 17, 2008 Oakland, CA 20 TechCrunch
Zillow October 17, 2008 Seattle, WA 35 TechCrunch
SearchMe October 17, 2008 Mountain View, CA 11 20% VentureBeat
Heavy October 17, 2008 New York, NY 12 Silicon Alley Insider
Jaxtr October 17, 2008 Menlo Park, CA 13 TechCrunch
Appcelerator October 17, 2008 Atlanta, GA 6 CNET
Sirius XM October 17, 2008 Washington, DC 50 CNET
Adbrite October 16, 2008 San Francisco, CA 40 TechCrunch
hi5 October 16, 2008 San Francisco, CA 15 13% TechCrunch
Zivity October 16, 2008 San Francisco, CA 7 TechCrunch
Visto Corp October 16, 2008 25 10% The Register
MPC October 16, 2008 Nampa ID and North Sioux City SD 80 11% Boise Channel 2 News
Tesla Motors October 15, 2008 San Carlos, CA Tesla Motors
Jive Software October 14, 2008 Portland, OR 40 TechCrunch
ClayValet October 14, 2008 Seattle 3 99% TechFlash
Qimonda October 14, 2008 Worldwide 3,000 22% Financial Times
Redfin October 13, 2008 Seattle, WA 20 20% Redfin
SuggestionBox October 13, 2008 San Diego 7 87% TechCrunch
Seesmic October 10, 2008 San Francisco, CA 7 TechCrunch
Lulu October 9, 2008 Raleigh, NC 24 24% News & Observer
eBay October 3, 2008 San Jose, CA 1,500 10% TechCrunch
Gawker Media October 3, 2008 New York, NY 19 14% New York Times
Sony Ericsson September 29, 2008 RTP, NC 450 Triangle Buisness Journal
Autobytel September 26, 2008 IRVINE, Calif 75 33% Kelsey Blog
NeoMagic Corporation September 24, 2008 Santa Clara 90 90% Bizjournals
Nvidia September 18, 2008 Santa Clara, CA 360 6% NetworkWorld
This batch of automotive industry layoffs courtesy of CBC News, Canada, with a bit of a Canadian focus:
Feb. 27. BMW announces plans to cut 5,600 jobs by the end of 2008. Most of the job cuts are in Germany.
Within the European Union, an estimated 2.3 million people are directly employed by the auto industry.
April 28: General Motors to cut 3,500 jobs by scaling back shifts at four North American assembly plants. As many as 970 people in Oshawa, Ont., are affected. Full story.
May 12: General Motors says it will close a Windsor, Ont., transmission plant by 2010. As many as 1,400 people to lose their jobs. Full story.
June 3: General Motors assembly plant in Oshawa announces as many as 2,600 people could be laid off when a pickup truck plant closes in 2009. Full story.
June: Volvo cuts 2,000 jobs worldwide.
June 18: Magna auto parts plant in St. Thomas, Ont., cuts 400 jobs. The company makes frames for GM trucks. Full story.
June 19: Formet automotive parts plant in St. Thomas, Ont., announces 400 people to be laid off.
June 27: Mitsubishi announces plans to cut 105 workers and 10 per cent of its output in the U.S.
July 8: Fiat, Italy's largest automaker, announces plans to scale back shifts at six of its Italian assembly plants.
July 15: GM announces plans to cut its white-collar workforce, spending on marketing and more production cutbacks, saving $15 billion US by the end of 2009.
Six companies build vehicles in Canada:
* GM
* Ford
* Chrysler
* Toyota
* Suzuki
* Honda
July: Sterling Truck plant in St. Thomas, Ont., cuts 720 jobs.
Aug. 6: Toyota lays off 800 workers at Japanese production plant. Blames sinking North American sales.
Aug. 28: Auto parts plant Linamar Corp. of Guelph, Ont., announces it will cut as many as 500 people from its 12,000-strong workforce. Full story.
Aug. 29: Toyota announces temporary production cuts to plants in Britain and Turkey.
Sept. 6: Toyota delays full production at SUV assembly plant in Woodstock, Ont.
Sept. 9: French automaker Renault to cut 6,000 European jobs by 2009.
September: U.S. auto sales crash, plunging 27 per cent from the same month a year earlier.
Oct. 8: Volvo cuts 4,000 jobs worldwide.
Oct. 13: Nissan announces it will cut 1,680 jobs at an assembly plant in Barcelona, Spain; published reports say Volkswagen-owned Spanish carmaker Seat to lay off 4,700 autoworkers and tire-maker Bridgestone to cut 2,800 jobs from two Spanish plants.
Japan produced 11.6 million vehicles in 2007, while the U.S. produced 10.8 million.
Oct. 14: Daimler Trucks to lay off 2,300 employees in Ontario and Portland, Ore.; Ontario's Sterling Truck announces it will shut down in less than one year, throwing 1,300 people out of work.
Oct. 16: General Motors says it will lay off 1,600 employees at three assembly plants in Michigan and Delaware.
Oct. 20: 100 employees laid off from Ford assembly plant in Oakville, Ont.
Oct. 21: Nissan announces production cuts in U.S., Japan and Spain.
Oct. 23: Volvo to cut 850 jobs at its construction equipment unit in Europe. The announcement follows an earlier cut of 1,400 workers at truck plants in Belgium and Sweden.
Oct. 23: Chrysler to cut 1,825 factory jobs in the U.S.; GM announces it will cut 5,000 jobs, cuts benefits.
Oct. 24: Chrysler announces it will cut 25 per cent of its salaried workforce.
Chrysler: 5,000 (mentioned above, direct link) (also: http://www.nytimes.com/...)
General Motors: 1,600 (mentioned above, direct link) General Motors: 5,100 and perhaps more coming
Seattle Times: 131
Texas Instruments: 750 and Mattel: 260
NBA: 80
Google: 300
Detroit MGM Grand: 100
Vanguard National Trailer: 52
Infopia: 12
Yahoo: another 1,500 on top of 1,000 earlier in 2008; also http://www.nytimes.com/...
Alcoa: 820 employees plus 2-400 contractors
Brunswick Corp: 1,450
Goldman Sachs: 3,300 Goldman-Sachs: 10% of work force to be cut
Newark Star Ledger: 150
Ingersoll-Rand: several thousand jobs
Merck: 7,200 or 12% of work force
Texas Instruments: 650
Micron: 3,000
Whirlpool: 5,000
Xerox: 3,000
National City Corp: 4,000
Tenneco: 1,100
Qwest: 1,200
Time, Inc.: 600
Doubleday: 10% of staff
Los Angeles Times: 150
Gannet Co.: 10%, about 3,000
I only posted this because I was not sure everyone is seeing, in one place, the breadth of the layoffs. Other than that, it was a depressing exercise.
Further information can be pulled here.
Also: Spending Stalls and Businesses Slash U.S. JObs