New jobless claims jump

[scifi]

It is a very sad news (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-jobless-claims-jump-apf-13912114.html) But I thought of making everyone here aware of it because at the point where a feeling has just begun to come that recession will decease slowly it has exploded like a blast in economy & has raised new concerns for the same...
As per this news, Labor Department had reported that initial requests for jobless benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 586,000 in the week ending Dec. 20, from an upwardly revised figure of 556,000 the previous week. That's much more than the 560,000 economists had expected.
What do you think ?????

[Nazreen]

Yes, it's quite sad to see so many people being out of a job today. I personally know of some people, mostly my husband's friends and ex-colleagues, who were working with Citibank and were retrenched. This are definitely bleak times.

In the US, the recent job cuts comes from the automaker industries. I'm quite glad that GM and Chrysler LLC are already set to receive government loans to restructure their businesses. If then didn't receive these loans, we would have seen them go bankrupt and more people will then be out of a job.

[Kay]

It'll be higher soon too scifi because a lot of the retailers take on seasonal staff over the Christmas period to help with the rush and then keep on a few of the best ones in the New Year. This year, there's been no rush. There's no reason for them to recruit more staff.

I was reading earlier that retailers normally do anything between 30% and 50% of their annual sales in the runup to Christmas but for 2008 that hasn't happened. They're starting huge discounts already (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081226/after_christmas_shopping.html) to try squeeze the last of those holiday pennies out of people. I think the next batch of jobless numbers will be far worse as stores struggle to balance the demands of bulging inventories, no buyers and a whole new season's stock ready to arrive.

[scifi]

This is very bad news , I don't know when we will experience a slight stability in the economy all over the world & when will this ongoing recession will hold on because the unemployment is ever increasing as if ready to break all the limits & barriers as reported by Kay too !!!!

[Nazreen]

The U.S. government site that reports this data is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/). You guys might also want to check that out.

As can be seen in the website, from their Monthly Mass Layoffs reports (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/mmls.toc.htm), there was a tremendous rise in jobless claims starting at the latter part of year 2008.

[Kay]

This is very bad news , I don't know when we will experience a slight stability in the economy all over the world & when will this ongoing recession will hold on because the unemployment is ever increasing as if ready to break all the limits & barriers as reported by Kay too !!!!


The U.S. government site that reports this data is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/). You guys might also want to check that out.

As can be seen in the website, from their Monthly Mass Layoffs reports (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/mmls.toc.htm), there was a tremendous rise in jobless claims starting at the latter part of year 2008.

Yep, it's scary indeed. I see too Ford has announced they expect their year end sales to have decreased by as much as 35% compared to last year and with no better expectations for Q1 of 2009. (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE50139020090102) More layoffs on the way I guarantee it. I don't know how anyone can imagine we're looking at better times within the next year or two, never mind just around the corner. There's still a lot of damage to be done before there's even going to be a sniff at recovery.

[Kay]

Apparently Microsoft are planning to lose 15,000 staff in less than a fortnight. No comment from the company yet but that's what's being passed along on the tech grapevine. Jan 15 is the date being talked about. (http://tech.yahoo.com/news/cnet/20090101/tc_cnet/83011080531013016575).

Now if a company the size of Microsoft can't afford to hang on to their employees, there's not much hope for the little guy is there? Or maybe it's a good time to be the little guy after all and not have the overheads a huge corporation does.

[Fergal]

Unfortunately we will see lots of job losses in 2009. The really difficult thing is that a lot of those who lose their jobs will not be able to get new jobs, in the near future.

This is probably a good time to look at self employment as a career option.

[Kay]

Fergal, I was reading about Woolworths closing (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iXi9sf16sTIXJePFb5gQHPlRcWFA) and I nearly cried. That's been a part of my childhood as far back as I can remember and my own child's. We always went there on a Saturday and picked up a small toy. My mum was telling me that the local one was selling everything right down to the shelving fixtures with up to 90% off.

Across the street from Woolies a brand new Adams children's wear store, which had only been open two weeks and was replacing the twenty odd year old one, got closed down when they announced they were headed for bankruptcy (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-eu-britain-adams,0,3085023.story). I feel like part of my life's gone because I shopped there all the time when my son was small. Sounds silly I know but it does.

[Nazreen]

The bankruptcy of Woolworths is really a sad story and it's not just for the customers but especially for the thousands of staff. A staggering number of 27,000 workers will be out of work. It's a sad event and it couldn't have come at a worse time - during Christmas holidays when people should have been celebrating.

Financial experts and economist warns us that the worst is yet to come.

[Fergal]

Yes the end of Woolworths is like the end of an era. It's a chain of stores that has a lot of fond memories for people, going back to their childhood. Sad to see such a strong traditional store going under. Maybe that's part of the problem, maybe they didn't move with the times?

[Kay]

Yes the end of Woolworths is like the end of an era. It's a chain of stores that has a lot of fond memories for people, going back to their childhood. Sad to see such a strong traditional store going under. Maybe that's part of the problem, maybe they didn't move with the times?

I was discussing that same thing with my husband actually, Fergal. It didn't change much at all from when I was a teen to when my son was a teen. I think you could be right on the money there. One thing I didn't know was that its company origins (http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/12/12/woolworths-once-an-american-icon-disappears-from-u-k/) lay in America. I've always thought it was a British company through and through.

[Nazreen]

I've also had fond memories of Woolworths when I was still a teenager. We went shopping there when we were on vacation in Australia and was one of the most memorable experiences in my life.

I haven't heard any news about the Australia chain of stores closing down so I think that they should still be doing okay.

[Fergal]

...its company origins (http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/12/12/woolworths-once-an-american-icon-disappears-from-u-k/) lay in America...

Wow, news to me, you learn something new everyday. Unfortunately if you don't innovate, you get left behind.

[Kay]

Wow, news to me, you learn something new everyday. Unfortunately if you don't innovate, you get left behind.

It was to me too! When I mentioned Woolworths to my husband, he said yeah we had them. And I was saying no, it must be something different and we went back and forth for about five minutes talking about it. I wouldn't believe him until he proved it to me on Google. I hate it when he's right... which unfortunately he is 95% of the time LOL. ;)

Nazreen, I don't know about the Australian ones. They had them when we were in Durban too but the Woolworths there was a carbon copy of Marks & Spencer in the UK, just to confuse things further.