Most Layoffs In 2008: The Companies That Cut The Most

People who get to the end of 2008 and are still at work can be thankful. The unemployment rate will probably be over 7%. That does not count the people no longer looking for work. Add them in and the figure is probably over 12%.

The business headlines have been filled with reports of layoffs nearly every day in the last half of the year. A lot of these have come at big, profitable companies, which says something about what they expect in 2009. Obviously, many of the largest cuts came at firms such as Citigroup, which are struggling to stay afloat, or firms such as Bear Stearns which simply disappeared.

Here is the 24/7 Wall St. 2008 report on the twenty largest layoffs by company. If a firm cut more than once during the year, those numbers have been combined for an annual total. We extend special thanks to Challenger, Gray & Christmas for its help.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[adam hartung]

Layoffs, at best, produce only short-term improvement. At the risk of creating severe damage. Like a crash, starvation diet - the health risks outweigh the short-term gain. Instead, businesses need to change what they do to be more competitive - and that involves applying innovation - rather than focusing on cost cutting. Read more at http://www.ThePhoenixPrinciple.com

[oandjoe08]

Right on Killthemessenger! After a crapy day at work I can be thankful I still have a job but you're right.
If we can improve ourselves this IS the time!!! Don't wait!!! Good advice!!!!

[KillTheMessenger]

"People who get to the end of 2008 and are still at work can be thankful."

Thankful for what? For having, at best, been lucky enough at choosing a relatively recession proof occupation? That does not cut it. We all need to do more.

I would turn it around and have everyone (and not just those who got laid off) ask:

"What am I doing wrong?"

In many cases the answer will be:

"I make myself dependent on the performance of the market by working in a company/industry which will cut people for no other reason than to satisfy its analysts or to make short term gains."

That's not a personal flaw or failure, it is a sad side note on the short term culture of US business that can turn into an existence threatening situation.

If you are still young and it happens to be your first recession, you can write it off as a bad experience. But recessions happen cyclically and one day the bad experience will become an existence threatening problem because you will be too old to be hired again and don't have a second leg to stand on.

So if you are in a situation where you can improve yourself by education or by changing jobs to avoid the corporate layoff trap, THIS IS THE TIME to do it. Think carefully about where you want to be NEXT TIME a recession hits or maybe just next year.

[piquet]

I work for a retail company that is actually doing well. Yet they laid off nearly 3% of their workforce. We were all like ...huh? This doesn't make sense. Not unlike when fuel went up all the excuses for business to gouge was because of the fuel. I think this is the same mentality. Companies are using this economy to get rid of people for their short term gains.
I am absolutely disgusted with corporate America. If there is an opportunity out there to shop/buy/support local business. Do so. The bigger they are the weaker the sauce.

[AmandaRuth]

Amen sister (or brother), try working for a corporation for 20 years, constantly sacrificing family needs to work obligations, working 50+ hours a week, being award Employee of the Month twice (which, by the way, required a change in the "only once per employee rule"), spending Sunday afternoon wired in, so you can get a jump on Monday, and loving it, loving your job and the company so much, because you bought into the "We Take Care of Our Employees" creedo they just love to spout, only to go to work one Tuesday, and being tossed out like so much trash. No explanation, no offer of another job in the company, no letter of recommendation, no nothing.

Imagine being 50 years old, and sending out resume after resume with no responses, as this company decided to eliminate your job in the worst job market in 40 years. Imagine pouring threw the want ads, and seeing your job posted as a non-benefited, contract labor, at 2/3'rd the salary. Imagine knowing the company was still profitable, just not profitable enough. Imagine knowing that you will soon lose your house if things do not change. Imagine surfing Huff Po seeing the CEO pontificating about Corp responsibility, and literally sitting on your hands you want to response to that vile spew so much it hurts. Actually, I don't have to imagine much, it is happening to me.

[PATina]

I think the last line summed it up... only 20 companies.­.. 400,000 jobs lost. Not a merry Christmas or happy holiday for a lot of people.

[itolduso]

Where are the newspapers in all of this? Oh- that's right, Big Business bought them up years ago and fired all of the journalists & investigative reporters, the 'purge' continues, we just don't count them anymore.

[AmandaRuth]

stop calling the job cuts layoffs. Most of these jobs are not coming back, and many companies, such as Starbucks, eliminated jobs (of long term employees) only to replace them with non benefited contract labor, in spite of Howard writing in Huff Po about "corp responsibility".

[DFL]

Republicans want to sink the usa economy and the world economy just so they can say they broke the unions! -thanks to them even jobs like garbage men and janitors will be hard to come by!

[kstuff]

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[banker2002]

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[kstuff]

The 9.2% figure in Michigan excludes anyone who's been unemployed for more than 26 weeks. The true figure is probably closer to 15%. I know three families where BOTH SPOUSES WERE LAIDOFF this week alone. Can we officially use the D word now?

[kstuff]

As predicted, here comes the mass wave of unemployment. Starting in Detroit, coming to a city near you real soon....

[lippp]

If companies such as HP, etc. did not pay over the top salaries to their CEOs maybe they would be able to sell their products cheaper and sell more in volume thereby keeping their labor force employed. Or pay more in taxes so we could afford universal healthcare. Instead people like Carly Fironio take the money and then support the Republican agenda so more wealth can be distributed to the upper 1%.

[Plank]

7% unemployment? It has already reached 9.2% in Michigan.

[Mildmannered]

it is higher than 7% in CA

[dandypuddin]

8.2% in California. Maybe higher by now.

[rich misty]

Republican Christmas: the GOP cheering the demise of their number one enemy: America and American

It's been such a long time since Republicans cheered under Hoover, they just want to get the country back to their utopian ideals

[BPCentrisAmerican]

Like Bush-Hoovervills. Bush thought he was running one of his oil companies.­...imto the ground.

[marijam]

GM is laying off to save the company, the others are doing it...becau­se they can.