One job lost in every 10 seconds in the world

By siliconindia   |   Monday, 15 December 2008, 21:23 IST   |    11 Comments
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New Delhi: Prepare for a horrendous piece of information. Globally, companies are laying off at least one employee every 10 seconds to cut costs and fight the economic crisis. So far in December, companies across diverse sectors have announced at least 115,000 job-cuts, a figure which translates into an average of more than 8,200 people being laid off a day or about six every one minute. More than 30,000 jobs were lost in the first week of December itself. But in the following seven days, the number nearly trebled to touch about 85,000, with the U.S. being accountable for more than one-third of the layoffs. The country has already seen a shocking 5,33,000 job losses in November alone. Banking firm Bank of America led last week's lay-offs as it announced plans to axe 35,000 jobs in the coming months. In terms of sheer numbers, Japanese electronics giant Sony came next with 16,000 layoffs followed by mining major Rio Tinto, which is all set to trim its headcount by 14,000. What is more, Swedish auto components maker SKF has announced it would be reducing its workforce by 2,500 employees while French telecom entity Alcatel-Lucent would be slashing 1,000 jobs. Other companies which announced layoffs include Abx Air (1,900 jobs), International Paper(1,500), Delta Airlines (1,000), Fairchild Semiconductor (1,100) diversified consumer business group Sara Lee (700 jobs) and world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal has said it would cut 650 positions at its largest plant in Belgium. All the firms have cited cost cutting measures amid the ravaging financial turmoil as the prime reason for layoffs.