10 Industries Where People Are Getting Fired: Report

Many Americans working at call centers were down on their luck last month.

Telecommunications firms experienced the most planned job cuts in March of any industry in the United States, according to a study by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. And all by its lonesome, phone provider T-Mobile's 1,900 call center layoffs accounted for almost half of the 4,089 telecommunications jobs that disappeared last month. Verizon, Wells Fargo and QVC also saved money on call centers by shedding another 1,435 from their payrolls, according to the Challenger press release.

Since the beginning of the year, most planned job cuts have taken place in the consumer products sector, with 18,438 in total, or four times the amount that happened in that industry by March of last year, the study reported.

Despite the signs of a recovering job market, U.S.-based companies plan to lay off more employees now than they did this time last year, the study found. That's bad, but there is good news, too: Last month, workers reportedly dealt with the lowest number of planned layoffs since May 2011.

This month's fate has not been fully determined, but internet service-provider Yahoo recently made headlines by announcing plans to cut 14 percent of its workforce, a move that will save the company $375 million a year. Layoffs aren't confined to the U.S. either. The Japan-based electronics company Sony recently announced plans to shed roughly 10,000 jobs.

But back to last month, here are March's top ten job-cutting industries with the number of layoffs included:

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Comments

[Livid]

03:25 PM on 04/18/2012

Nothing really new here. Schumpeter's creative destruction at work

[escribacat]

11:21 PM on 04/14/2012

We've been living from bubble to bubble for awhile now. It doesn't seem quite viable, long term. And now that the internet has made it pretty easy for American companies to offshore jobs, American workers can't compete with Chinese or other workers who only make a few dollars a day and make no other demands, such as paid vacation, sick leave, health insurance, life insurance, maternity leave, etc. Until wages are equalized across the world (unions begin forming), or until the Feds start taxing those jobs, I don't see things getting much better for us.

[kaykaythere]

10:58 PM on 04/14/2012

Having left the pharmaceuticals not too long ago, it is quite apparent the changes that are taking place.
More and more jobs are lost to companies to India, Eastern Europe and Asia. Those countries provide highly trained medical professionals that work for must less, let alone little or no benefits. They have large populations to complete quick clinical trials for new products without the legal, regulatory or monetary restrictions seen in Westerns countries were agencies require stringent testing.

It is a new world and we had better start to get used to it and be ready to compete. We are not prepared now.

[escribacat]

11:23 PM on 04/14/2012

Similar situation in high tech. Most of the companies I've worked for over the years have outsourced a huge percentage of high paying (here, anyway) technical jobs. It's been going on for 15 years.

[simpleperson]

10:04 PM on 04/14/2012

Government is an industry?

[mashtoe]

11:43 PM on 04/14/2012

Government is industry and visa versa. It shouldn't be that way but clearly we have corporatism.

[Donkan]

09:09 PM on 04/14/2012

The market model applied to labor makes for a nice mathematical theory: A worker's value is determined by supply and demand. This model has resulted in a workplace completely devoid of of human values such as loyalty. The employer has no loyalty to the employee. His only imperative is to maximize profits. In return, the employee feels no loyalty to the employer. He's gone as soon as someone offers him a better position. Is that really the system we want?

[lofttypeofaview]

11:39 PM on 04/15/2012

In return, the employee feels no loyalty to the employer.

Exactly correct, which is why we currently have so many product recalls. There also was a time when people even ate raw meat, without ever contracting e-coli.

[mashtoe]

07:20 PM on 04/14/2012

And guess what Obama's response is?! More trade deals with south american nations to help offshore and outsource jobs. More H-1b work visas that allow corporations to import foreign labor (there are dozens of other work visa programs BTW) and more talk of amnesty for illegals! Democrats really really hate American workers.

[kaykaythere]

11:00 PM on 04/14/2012

Do you know what would also help?

People who believed that Every american child was worthy of a great education, not the crappy system we have now.

You don't like Obama response, fine. But he is not and has not been the only problem we have in this country.

Trade deals made a long time before this one did not help and you people who want to place blame on this guy can't seem to admit that your leaders also screwed us up.

[mashtoe]

11:42 PM on 04/14/2012

Why should we fix the education system when we can just import foreign labor?

[escribacat]

11:13 PM on 04/14/2012

Rightwing strawman argument: Democrats "really hate" American workers. Since that statement is obviously not true, I wonder if you use it because you have nothing of substance to say against Democrats.

[mashtoe]

11:39 PM on 04/14/2012

Lol, wow. Ok, who signed NAFTA into law? Bill Clinton did. Who started normalized trade with slave labor communist China? Bill Clinton did. Who ended Glass Steagall? Bill Clinton did. Who started H-1b work visas?!Clinton.

Who has maintained H-1b work visas, NAFTA, and trade with communist China during the worst down turn in 70 years? Obama. Have you heard ONE Democrat call for ending normalized trade with communist China? Nope. Have you heard on Democrat call for ending work visas? Nope.

Republicans are obviously in the pocket of Wall Street. But its beyond silly, its dangerous, to act like Democrats are one bit different. Democrats are in fact even worse than Republicans because Democrats believe in big government AND they worship Wall Street.

[MayorsRevenge]

12:46 PM on 04/14/2012

Um, what *wasn't* on that list?!

[bipolarbears60]

02:19 PM on 04/14/2012

Military Industrial Complex

[RealistBC]

02:26 PM on 04/14/2012

True. the New Corporate World Order is going to need boots on the ground as they conduct their conquest of the world. Think of how cheap the housing costs will be for these corporate colonists!

[escribacat]

11:13 PM on 04/14/2012

x2. It pretty much covered the economy.

[Progressneeded]

12:24 PM on 04/14/2012

In other words, we are scr3-ed!

[freddsky]

11:35 AM on 04/14/2012

Most disturbing of all: The Pottery and Ceramics Industry.
Kids, remember, don't smoke up at work. You know it makes you want to nap.

[lolarites]

11:13 AM on 04/14/2012

Merde! That's everybody, where are we supposed to work?

[RealistBC]

11:45 AM on 04/14/2012

Harvesting edible refuse at the dump.

[Lambpie]

06:56 PM on 04/14/2012

Thanks for the laugh.

[kaykaythere]

11:03 PM on 04/14/2012

well, apparently in the local schools as domestic engineers. Children are being targeted for that fine role. I guess adults just can't seem to get the little cracks on the floors just quite clean enough

[Lo Chiaro]

11:00 AM on 04/14/2012

Downsizing education? Should be the opposite. Always.

[RealistBC]

11:04 AM on 04/14/2012

An educated voting public would mean the end of corporatist "conservatism".

[kaykaythere]

11:04 PM on 04/14/2012

Would you please slow down and not use such big words for those Americans that might by chance read the business pages?

[Mr MOTO]

10:46 AM on 04/14/2012

Open jobs according to indeed.com for the last 3 months:

Accounting 112,770 -2%
Construction 104,589 2%
Education 132,177 -4%
Financial Services and Banking 187,656 -3%
Healthcare 690,047 -20%
Hospitality 115,488 6%
Human Resources 51,606 3%
Information Technology 292,696 -3%
Manufacturing 111,554 -7%
Media 40,304 4%
Real Estate 23,936 11%
Retail 310,961 -2%
Transportation 101,201 -38%

[RealistBC]

10:57 AM on 04/14/2012

How many of these will go to H-1b and L-1 visa holders?

[Mr MOTO]

11:06 AM on 04/14/2012

Do you even know how may H1b's are allowed in the US?

[Mr MOTO]

10:16 AM on 04/14/2012

Soooooo, essentially EVERY industry except IT?!?!

[RealistBC]

10:19 AM on 04/14/2012

Big Brother needs to store the evidence of Thought Crime somewhere.

[Mr MOTO]

10:20 AM on 04/14/2012

lol ... H/T

[dwill123]

10:41 AM on 04/14/2012

Yeah, "except IT" where the corporate lords just ship those jobs overseas.

[hungryblackcat]

09:34 AM on 04/14/2012

Ironically laying off people with industrial and retail is going to further speed up the cycle of business losses. It's the perfect way to ensure more people won't have the money to buy your products. Thus these business's will lose more money since no one is buying anything and the laying off continues. It's a vicious cycle.

[RealistBC]

10:20 AM on 04/14/2012

And when our wages are lower then those in Bangladesh, an economic miracle will happen: the jobs will return.

[BZkCarter]

10:45 AM on 04/14/2012

but our level of living will be gone

[jbad]

11:29 AM on 04/14/2012

All that matters is that the CEO and his boys get their bonus' first and off the top for a job well done because after all they are the talent that brings the $$ into the corp. Right ? Lets see a show of hands whomever believes that BS.

[RealistBC]

09:25 AM on 04/14/2012

No surprises. The majority of these categories require that enough people have enough money to support purchasing these products and services. With so much evidence available showing how all the money goes to a small percentage of the population, how can it be otherwise? The 99% are broke, and the forecast is for things to get worse as wages decline, employment becomes undependable, and benefits dry up. This nation is barely in survival mode thanks to "greed is good" economics. But he who dies with the largest bank balance wins, doesn't he?

[hlj]

09:37 AM on 04/14/2012

'The economy is showing signs of recovery'.
That is what our 'Hope and Promise' vote has been telling us. Are you a voter. or a follower
without a brain?

[RealistBC]

09:53 AM on 04/14/2012

I currently support four adult family members who wish the economy is improving. I vote. Now put your brain back in its box before you get your fingerprints all over it.