Data Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
This is a graph of initial unemployment insurance claims by month starting in January 2008. It shows a drastic spike until September 2008 then a plateau until January 2009. Initial unemployment insurance claims appear to be declining from a high in March.
For employers seeking layoff alternatives:
Consider reducing costs outside of human resources (sell excess machines, rent available office space, or renegotiate with suppliers)
Consider a 5% pay cut (5% reduction across 20 workers = 1 layoff saved with more productivity than with only 19 employees)
Consider reorganizing without any layoffs to go after increased market share as everyone [...]
University of Arizona has announced it will need to layoff up to 200 personnel. President Robert N. Shelton made the announcement after determining that the University of Arizona would lose $150 million in funding from the State of Arizona.
A total of 600 positions will need to be eliminated but almost 400 of these eliminated positions [...]
The State of Maryland has announced its budget for the fiscal year 2010. In additional to the 1000 currently vacant positions that have been eliminated (layoffs without any pain other than for jobseekers), Maryland will reduce its overall workforce by 700 employees. This is a small figure but especially hard for the government employees who [...]
Caterpillar, which recently announced over 20,000 layoffs, is announcing some more. Caterpillar will lay off an additional 2,100 employees as demand continues to weaken. This round of announcements increases the total body count by 10%.
Caterpillar is the world’s leading maker of construction and mining equipment. With new housing and building demand falling rapidly, Caterpillar will [...]