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The job market is not getting better

EDS will shift more of its services staff overseas to countries such as India, with a goal of having 20,000 employees in so-called "low-cost" countries by the end of 2004: EDS CEO Jordan.

"The jobs report is just awful. [It] shows no letup in the trend of job losses in a quarter when all other signs point to rapid growth. Businesses across the board are figuring out ways to do more with fewer people. Another month like this and rate cuts will definitely be back on the table," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services.

• Even the recruiters are losing jobs.  The past 2.5 years 3 million jobs have been lost, including thousands of recruiters.  500 headhunting firms, about 10% of the total, went under.  Hiedrick & Struggles Int’l, for example, laid off 1000 people, 40% of its global staff.

The evidence is that business is not getting better:

• There have been 68,000 business failures since March 2001.  9,850 Mass layoffs, defined as greater than 50 at a time by Companies thru June, 2003:  USDOL

• Kodak cuts 6,000 jobs summer of 2003.  Boeing cut 5,000.  Siebel 500.

• 1.5 m unemployed quit looking.  Add those to the 9-9.36 millioin officially unemployed and still looking and you have 11 million or 7.4 %.  Add 4.8 million who have reduced benefits/hours/salary and you’re up to 10.6%.

• Howard Dean says 1 in 4 U.S. workers are free-lancing, self-employed, employed in a temporary job, or working part-time.

• In a stunning statement Dean also said that more children today will see their parents in bankruptcy than will see them divorce.

• U.S. workers' salary increases this year are coming in at their lowest level in at least a decade, and are expected to remain about the same for 2004, according to two HR surveys. The good news is raises on average are nearly a full percentage point above inflation, meaning we're still ahead of the game. Except that HMOs are jacking up employers for an average 17.7 percent medical-insurance hike for 2004 in contracts now under negotiation.

Citigroup’s Salomon Smith Barney had $150 million fine

$10 million fine of Xerox for Accounting Fraud

$7 million fine on Arthur Anderson for its Audit of Waste Management

WorldCom Agrees to Pay $500 Million

R.J. Reynolds said on 9.17.03 that it would take a $340 million charge in the third quarter for the move, which will eliminate about 2,600 jobs. Of the job cuts, 800 are in manufacturing and the others are in sales, office work, marketing and other nonmanufacturing areas.

The job cuts are part of a plan R.J. Reynolds hopes will cut $1 billion in costs by the end of 2005,

About 1,600 to 1,700 of the job cuts will be in Winston-Salem. Of those, 75 percent are people who have already indicated they want to take a buyout, which includes between 22 weeks and 87 weeks of salary and benefits, the company said.