CEOs Warn Of Huge Layoffs: Daley

Mayor Daley said Wednesday he's been warned by a parade of corporate CEOs that a blizzard of job cuts are about to bury the souring Chicago economy.

"Huge layoffs are coming in November and December. And next year, there's going to be [even more] huge layoffs. All the corporation CEOs have come in to tell me. That's just the beginning. It's not their end result," Daley told reporters after a City Council meeting.

"Each one of them tell me what they're laying off and they're going to double that next year. So, you're talking about huge numbers of permanent layoffs...It's going to have a huge effect upon all businesses relying off of one another. And for cities, counties and states, your revenue is going to keep coming down....Some of these local governments are going to be in jeopardy. They won't have enough money to [meet] their payroll. It's that serious."

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Comments

[txkayrose]

I don't live anywhere near Chicago, so this is really just academic for me. I would like to know, though, how many of those empolyees laid off will be upper management? It seems like simple mathematics to say: 1 employee @ $180k / yr = 4 employees @ $45k/yr. Fewer people on umployment always sounds like good business to me. But then we're not so sophisticated here in Texas. And I guess there aren't too many upper mgmt folks lining up to throw themselves on their own swords, now are there?
Jsut observations from down south.

[majorteddy]

You better believe it. This downturn hasn't even started to hit. i predict the DJIA will hit 3700 before it stops.

[LeeMarie]

No - I don't believe it. Daley has absolutely not spoken to every corporation in Chicago. His statement is wrong and unnecessarily alarmist. How many employees today have wasted time worrying about losing their jobs instead of getting work done? How many managers have had to spend time calming their staff down?

[LeeMarie]

Ok - seriously - EVERY COMPANY has told Daley they are laying off staff? There is no way this is true. Way to start a panic Daley ... how productive. Geesh.

[ErnestineBass]

On the bright side, maybe now I can buy a nice used office chair CHEAP.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

This might be a problem in Cook County but apparently it is not one that is recognized by the tax assessor in Lake County. Everyone seems to think that real estate values are going down except for the tax assessor's office. They are keeping the property taxes as high as ever, and now they are raising the assessed values.

[clsmithj]

Lake Co. IL or IN?