Recent Layoffs Tempered by Overall Economic Growth

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/56829394-79/company-percent-cuts-defense.html.csp 
Recently, L3 Communications in Salt Lake City announced that it would lay off 220 workers. No one likes to see layoffs. When your neighbor loses their job, it is a layoff. When you lose your job, it is a crisis. We as individuals can relate to the disturbing and personal side of losing a job. As economists though, we are also charged with looking at layoffs through the lens of the big-picture economic viewpoint.

The L3 layoff is a small blip in the current Utah economic performance. Utah still has more to go to rebuild its economic strength that was undermined during the Great Recession, but Utah is rebounding briskly from that recession and is currently adding jobs on an annual basis higher than its long-term average. Over the past year Utah has added 40,000 jobs to its employment count. That’s on average 3,300 per month. Removing 220 workers from that count for September lowers the monthly gain for that one month to 3,100. You can see how that really isn't much of a setback for an economy on a dynamic path such as ours. Does that mean all of those workers will have an easy time finding new jobs? Not necessarily, but their chances are much better here in Utah than they may otherwise be in a less dynamic state than Utah, and there are plenty of those out there.

Layoffs that come in a sizeable package from a noticeable company like L3 make headlines. What doesn't make headlines are the small number of hires each day across the entire spectrum of Utah companies that when added together amount to a sizeable and healthy amount of job expansion, as the 40,000 jobs attest to. That is where the big-picture look at the economy helps to evaluate individual company announcements against the entire spectrum. Is it an isolated case, or a symptom associated with a system-wide problem?

Utah resource guide to help laid‐off workers is released

The Department of Workforce Services has introduced a new resource guide to provide Utahns who have lost jobs with all of the contacts they will need to survive a layoff, manage their finances and find new employment.

This booklet is designed for laid-off workers and their families. It provides practical tips for surviving a layoff and explores the resources available to make the transition to a new job easier. The transition time may take a few days, a few weeks or many months, and the process can be difficult. Knowing what can happen when you are laid off and where to go for assistance can help you avoid some of the problems other people have faced when they lost their job. Salt Lake Tribune

Access the publication online here.

The U.S. economy: What’s come back, and what hasn’t

Many of the U.S. economy’s vital signs have recovered from the damage done by the Great Recession.

The economy is not back to full health, with unemployment at 7.6 percent and with 3 million fewer jobs than when the recession began. And although the housing market is improving, that engine of economic growth and job creation still has far to go before it can be declared healthy.

After five painful years, it’s nearly back to where it started when the recession began. What’s different now is that the trends are much healthier.

What’s back:

• Household wealth
• Retail sales
• Layoffs
• Foreclosures
• Stock market
• GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

 What’s not back:

• Total jobs
• Unemployment rate
• Housing
• Auto sales
• Industrial output

Get more detail here: Salt Lake Tribune

JPMorgan to trim 4,000 jobs, many in consumer bank

JPMorgan is trimming about 4,000 jobs, or about 1.5 percent of its work force, becoming the latest big bank to shrink its staff.

The bank said the cuts will be focused in consumer banking and mortgages. Many of the cuts would come through attrition, but the bank will lay off workers as well, a bank spokeswoman said.

The cuts were revealed in a presentation to investors Tuesday. They are part of the bank’s bigger cost-cutting campaign. They come after a year when the bank increased profit and revenue.

The move could signal a new direction for staffing: JPMorgan already shed about 1,200 jobs in 2012, after adding jobs in 2011 and 2010.

Job cuts have become a familiar story in the banking industry. Banks are navigating new government regulations that have crimped some old sources of revenue, like issuing credit cards to students or trading for the bank’s own profit. The banks have also said that complying with the new regulations is costing them more money.

JPMorgan said it hopes to find jobs within the bank for displaced workers through a "redeployment" program. Salt Lake Tribune

Utah Job Fair Set for Ex-Hostess Employees

In Utah, Hostess employed about 600 people in operations at two bakeries, nearly a dozen retail stores and nine depots.

The Utah Department of Workforce Services and Ogden/Weber Technology College will host a job fair Thursday for former Hostess employees.

The job fair will run from 1 p.m.-4 p.m. at the Ogden/Weber Technology College, 200 N. Washington Blvd. in Ogden.

Employers participating include Lofthouse, Kroeger, Kellogg’s, FedEx, CSM Bakery and U.S. Food Services.

Job seekers are urged to bring an updated resúmé and to dress professionally for interviews.
A series of free resume/job search workshops will be presented by the Department of Workforce Services this week. For a list of dates and locations go to: www.jobs.utah.gov.

In Utah, Hostess employed about 600 people in operations at two bakeries, nearly a dozen retail stores and nine depots. Salt Lake Tribune

Best Buy to cut costs, close 50 stores, though list not finalized

The largest U.S. specialty electronics retailer for years expanded quickly by opening big-box stores across the country. But shoppers have started using the hulking stores as showrooms where they can test out products before buying them cheaper elsewhere.

To revamp the struggling chain, Best Buy said Thursday it plans to close 50 of its U.S. big-box stores, cut 400 corporate jobs and trim $800 million in costs. The company, which has about 1,400 U.S. locations, also plans to open 100 smaller and more profitable Best Buy Mobile stores throughout the country.

The company has not yet finalized the list of stores to be closed, said spokeswoman Susan Busch. In Utah, the retailer has stores in South Salt Lake, Murray, Sandy and West Jordan in Salt Lake County, as well as in Riverdale in Weber County and American Fork and Orem in Utah County. It also has one store in Park City, Logan and Washington in southern Utah. Salt Lake Tribune

Layoffs looming at DHS

the Department of Human Services took a $10.5 million hit in the final budget, which will mean the loss of the full-time equivalent of 149 positions, 27 in the Department of Children and Family Services, many of those caseworkers. Salt Lake Tribune

Cuts would force 13 Utah liquor stores to close

State lawmakers, if their proposed $2.5 million in cuts hold up in the budgeting process, would force liquor-control commissioners to close up to 13 stores in Utah, costing nearly 150 mostly part-time employees their jobs. Hours at the state’s largest liquor stores would be cut be cut as well, with closings at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m., rather than the current 10 p.m. Salt Lake Tribune

Recession carves into state work force

Overall, 6.8 percent of the state work force has been shed in the past 18 months, through attrition, early retirement, hiring freezes, privatization and, in some cases, layoffs. The figures, compiled by The Salt Lake Tribune from state data, include all executive-branch departments, higher education and the courts, but do not include schoolteachers, who are paid at the district level. Relatively little of the downsizing has been achieved directly through layoffs, said Jeff Herring, executive director of the Department of Human Resource Management. Fewer than 100 state workers actually have had their jobs eliminated through reductions-in-force.

The 6.8 percent reduction in state jobs is a significantly higher rate of contraction than has taken place in Utah’s job picture as a whole. According to figures from the Department of Workforce Services, overall employment shrank by just 3.5 percent in the period from December 2008 to June 2010. The Salt Lake Tribune

Industry vs. Occupation - Trendlines

Labor market economists often talk about jobs in terms of occupations (the outlook, wages, etc.) but also in terms of industries.

Often, these two things are confusing to non-economist types, so an article in the current issue of Trendlines clarifies the difference and why it's good to look at both sides of the jobs coin to understand what's going on in the economy.

It's an important distinction, since occupations often spread across many industries. Think about accountants. Every industry hires accountants, but the wages and outlook can vary quite a bit, depending on the industry the accountant is working in. So, a savvy economy watcher will want to be educated about industry vs. occupations.

Trendlines can be read on-line at http://jobs.utah.gov/wi/pubs/trendlines/julaug10/index.html.

Utah census enumerators done early, lose jobs

About half of those 4,000 or so temporary workers will be laid off this week — many weeks ahead of schedule — because they have run out of work. They managed in less than a month to visit 85 percent of homes that failed to mail in Census forms.

"We actually expected to finish in mid-June. So we're wrapping up ahead of schedule," said W. Todd Hansen, local Census office manager in Salt Lake City.

About that a quarter of enumerators have already been laid off this week, and another quarter will be laid off by the end of the week, Hansen said. They had been making about $13 an hour.

Some enumerators who had been working in urban areas now will be shifted to distant or rural areas to work. Others will continue to follow up on people who were missed or will work on other verification projects. The Deseret News

Call Center Lay Offs and New Jobs

Affiliated Computer Services said Monday it will hire 225 people to work at its call center at 1911 N. 2200 West in Salt Lake City.That news comes less than a week after CompuCredit, an Atlanta-based financial services company, said it will lay off 162 employees at its call center at 5215 Wiley Post Way; Convergys said it was hiring more than 1,500 temporary workers for its U.S. Census call centers in Taylorsville and Ogden; and 150 Clearfield-based call center workers laid off last October by Teleperformance USA learned they are eligible for federal assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor. In addition, Vangent Inc. and three temporary staffing companies in Utah are in the process of hiring another 1,500 temporary people to work at another Census Bureau call center in Sandy. Salt Lake Tribune