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| By Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney. com contributing writer Last Updated: January 26, 2009: 5:58 PM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney. com) -- The final week of January began with a bloodbath for the job market, as over 71,400 more cuts were announced on Monday alone. At least six companies from manufacturing and service industries announced cost-cutting initiatives that included slashing thousands of jobs. More than 200,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, according to company reports. Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945. "It's all about the consumer, and the consumer's been hit hard," said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. "It's a vicious circle as weakness begets layoffs, which beget more spending weakness. " Construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) said Monday it will cut 20,000 jobs amid a "very challenging global business environment." The company had already planned to cut 15,000 workers since the fourth quarter of 2008, but added another 5,000, bringing the total to 20,000. Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) said in an earnings report it would cut 10% of its staff of 81,900 and close five of its manufacturing plants. And a second round of cuts will shed about 15% of employees from the combined Pfizer/Wyeth staff of 120,000. That makes a total of 26,000 jobs lost. The company already cut 4,700 jobs in 2008. Link to Article |
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| By Betty Liu and Eric Martin
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Economies and stocks markets worldwide are becoming increasingly correlated and a global recession is likely, said Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the financial crisis. Roubini said economic growth in China will slow to less than 5 percent in 2009. The U.S. will lose 6 million jobs this year and grow 1 percent at most in 2010 as private spending falls and unemployment reaches 9 percent, Roubini said. “There is nowhere to hide right now,” Roubini, an economics professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “Markets have become perfectly correlated and economies are also becoming perfectly correlated. This is not your kind of traditional minor recession. ” To contact the reporters on this story: Betty Liu in New York at bliu17@bloomberg.net; Eric Martin in New York at emartin21@bloomberg.net Link to Article |  |