Eurozone employment up 0.2 percent in last quarter of 2007

2nd Ld: China's employment situation Very severe this year: Minister

Global Manpower Employment Outlook Survey Indicates Softer Job Prospects Ahead for U.S., China, Italy, Norway and Spain

The Job Market March-April, 2008

I slipped up.

I'm writing my monthly commentary about the job market at almost the end of March and, as you may have seen, that is unusual. Usually, I'm like clockwork.

But this month, I have had so much to do with the release of my first e-books, new VIPs in my program (www.vippersonalsearch.com) plus an extremely busy office schedule with many more new assignments.

What's a recruiter to do???

So here we are at the end of March and Wall Street has joined manufacturing and mortgage professionals as being the most impacted by the slowing economy. See http://themarket.blogspot.com/2008/03/wall-streets-layoff-picture.html for a video from The Wall Street Journal

A recent Manpower survey (available at http://themarket.blogspot.com/2008/03/manpower-employment-outlook-survey.html)
observes that many CEO's are taking a more cautious approach to hiring in the second quarter . . . and that is extremely unusual given where we are in the recessionary cycle.

And that is extremely telling.

Look, I work in New York and my practice is national. Other than the class of jobs I referred to earlier, no one is laying people off. Why? First of all, employment is a lagging indicator. That means that many other things happen before the large layoffs occur.

Secondly, with labor shortages being a huge part of the competitive landscape, where will employers find new hires when the recession ends if the start to jettison staff?

So employers are taking a go-slow attitude to job cuts.

Now, this doesn't mean that if you work at Bear Stearns and no one has come to you to talk about your severance, that you will become a JPMorganChase employee in a few months.

Au contraire, some people have been spoken with about extremely generous packages already.

If no one has, they want you for the systems integration and then lots of you will be meeting at the exit doors and in the reception areas of lots of employers in New York, just like the Countrywide people were doing.

In summary, for now, there is nothing to fear in the job market and lots to take advantage of!

Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2008 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

He is the author of “Get Yourself Hired NOW! The Big Game Hunter’s Guide to Head Hunting Your Next Job and Every Job After That” (in ebook and audio formats) and “Get Your Job Search Organized NOW!” (ebook) Both are available at www.getyourselfhiredNOW.com Register at the site and you will receive free copies of The International Job Board List and a Guide to Resume Writing.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to www.jeffaltman.com.

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Manpower Employment Outlook Survey Foreshadows Hiring Slowdown

Employers step back from hiring

Wall Street's Layoff Picture

Layoff Notices Coming For Bay Area Teachers

Hundreds Of Teachers Receive Layoff Notices

Sea Ray layoffs rise to 400

Sea Ray will lay off 400 employees at its plant at 100 Sea Ray Drive in Merritt Island, 50 more than previously reported.
In February the company reported it would lay off 350 employees at the facility because of the sagging economy and slower demand for boats.
However, the state Agency for Workforce Innovation reported Wednesday the company plans to layoff 400 employees between May and July.
The company says in a statement it will be able to move some of those employees to other plants as it relocates the production of some of its boat models. Two of Sea Ray's other Merritt Island facilities -- a product development & engineering facility at 200 Sea Ray Dr. and manufacturing plant -- will not be affected by the layoffs. In February, the company reported the net job loss would be 80.

Livonia SuperValu plant to close, lay off 366

By Nancy Kaffer
The closure of a SuperValu Inc. plant in Livonia will put 366 employees out of work — the largest Michigan layoff of 2008, according to information filed with the state’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. announced in January it was ending an agreement with Eden Prairie, Minn.-based SuperValu, a supplier for the grocery retail industry, and moving many of its operations to an Ohio facility. At that time, company representatives were unsure of the impact on the SuperValu Advantage Logistics Michigan plant, according to published reports. The only other Michigan supply facility listed on the SuperValu Web site is in Zeeland.Earlier this month, Kroger listed sales of $70.2 billion for the full 2007 fiscal year. In January, SuperValu reported supply chain net sales of $2.4 billion, up 4.8 percent from last year, with $33.7 billion net sales in its retail and supply operations year-to-date for fiscal 2008. SuperValu’s retail holdings include Albertsons, Save-A-Lot and Shop ’n’ Save.The WARN Act requires companies with more than 100 employees to provide 60 days notice of anticipated closures or mass layoffs. Other metro-area companies on the WARN list include: Troy’s Bank of America, reporting a 210-worker layoff, and Sterling Heights’ Faurecia Automotive Seating Inc., reporting 170 layoffs.

Citigroup announces layoff of 185 home equity sales workers

DES MOINES, Iowa: The home mortgage division of Citigroup Inc. said Monday it is laying off 185 employees who worked in its home equity business, saying those types of loans are not salable in today's troubled home loan market.
CitiMortgage spokesman Mark Rodgers said the layoffs in the Des Moines area follow the company's recent announcement that it plans to better allocate its capital.
"Supporting that goal, CitiMortgage recently announced it will reduce its overall balance sheet and the percentage of first mortgage originations held in portfolio by focusing more on salable product," he said in a statement. "Because home equity products are not salable in the current market, or likely to be in the foreseeable future, we are curtailing proactive marketing efforts that drive home equity loan volume."
He said the company is not exiting the home equity business but will focus more on supporting existing Citibank, corporate and Smith Barney customers.
Citigroup continues to employ about 180 people in its CitiMortgage business in Des Moines, about 650 workers in its credit card operations in the state and CitiFinancial has 120 workers in Iowa. About 200 workers are employed by Smith Barney in the state, he said.
Earlier this month Citigroup announced plans to reduce residential mortgage assets in the United States by about $45 billion (€28.54 billion) over the next year. That would be cutting by more than 50 percent the amount of new loans held in portfolio.

TietoEnator sees good growth early 2008, cuts jobs

HELSINKI, March 17 (Reuters) - Nordic IT services firm TietoEnator (TIE1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it has seen good growth in its business at the start of the year, and it had finished personnel talks in Finland, cutting 190 jobs.
"Cost savings, improved utilisation rate and good organic growth during the first two months of the year are key elements in restoring TietoEnator's profitability," TietoEnator's newly appointed Chief Executive Hannu Syrjala said in a statement.
The company said it was on track to reach an annual savings target of over 100 million euros ($158 million). It expects to have reached 50 percent of the savings target by end-2008.
The actions taken by the end of February amount to annual savings of 24 million euros, it said.
TietoEnator announced the layoff talks in January, estimating at the time some 400 people would be made redundant or transferred internally in Finland. The number of job cuts came down thanks partly to the good organic growth in early 2008, it said.
TietoEnator said also in January it planned to reduce 800 jobs in its high-cost countries of operation, mostly in Finland and Sweden. Layoff talks in countries other than Finland were continuing, it said on Monday. (Reporting by Sami Torma; editing by Rory Channing)

20,000 Teacher Layoffs In California

he Auburn Journal is reporting Statewide teacher layoffs: It�s 20,000.
The number of teachers in California who have been issued notices of potential layoffs has hit 20,000, the state�s education chief said Friday.School districts are required by law to notify teachers and other certificated staff members that they could be laid off by March 15. The recent layoffs � including dozens in Placer County districts � have been spurred by $4.8 billion in cuts to education contained in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger�s January proposed state budget.In a statement, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O�Connell blamed the layoff notices on a �priorities problem� and decried the governor�s proposed budget for putting student performance �in grave jeopardy.��The governor�s budget fails to invest in our future,� O�Connell said in the statement. �We should be encouraging the best and brightest to join the teaching ranks. We know that effective teachers are the number one element in student success. Sadly, the flood of pink slips being handed out only discourages people from entering the teacher profession.�Layoff notices could be rescinded if the budget picture brightens. The governor�s first proposed state budget is widely considered to provide the most austere spending plan of the budget-making season, but school districts must base their financial projections on the most recent proposal.Odds of layoff notices being rescinded because of fiscal improvement is slim. Consider the State of California Cash Flow Figures.
�Our receipts were relatively close to the Governor�s latest budget estimates, but many sources of revenue continue to show signs of weakness,� Chiang said. �Retail sales and corporate taxes came in below estimates, and while February�s income tax payments were up, the majority of those taxes will be collected in later months.�Actual General Fund revenue in February was down $82 million, or -1.5 percent, from estimates found in the Governor�s 2008-09 State Budget proposal, which contains updated revenue projections for the current fiscal year. Personal income tax totals surpassed estimates by $263 million, or 19.2 percent. Sales tax receipts were down $191 million, or -5.1 percent and corporate taxes were down by $24 million, or -12.5 percent.Sales tax receipts are headed the wrong way and will continue to do so. So will property tax revenues. Income tax was up, but that barely made up for the other projections, and the state is $16 billion in the hole.Laid off teachers are not going to be buying cars, eating out, or doing much shopping in general. They certainly will not be buying any houses. Some will even decide to walk away. And we are not just talking about teachers here. There will be cutbacks across the board in California's budget. And it won't be just California either.
By the way, the above picture should not say "Debt". It should say budget deficit and CNBC ought to know the difference.I do not know why someone posted that on You Tube as "Crooked California Cut Backs" because those cuts are needed and then some as explained in:

Illinois unemployment down slightly in February

CHICAGO — New data shows that the unemployment rate in Illinois was down slightly in February compared with January.
The seasonally adjusted rate for last month was 5.5 percent. It was 5.6 in January.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Illinois Department of Employment Security released the statistics on Thursday.
Despite the slight improvement, the Illinois jobless rate was worse than February's national average of 4.8 percent. It was also worse than that Illinois rate for February last year, which was also 4.8 percent.
The Department of Employment Security is also reporting that Illinois continues to lead all Midwestern states in job growth since January 2004.
That means 198,100 new jobs. More than 34,000 of those have been added in the past year.

Illinois unemployment down slightly in February

CHICAGO — New data shows that the unemployment rate in Illinois was down slightly in February compared with January.
The seasonally adjusted rate for last month was 5.5 percent. It was 5.6 in January.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Illinois Department of Employment Security released the statistics on Thursday.
Despite the slight improvement, the Illinois jobless rate was worse than February's national average of 4.8 percent. It was also worse than that Illinois rate for February last year, which was also 4.8 percent.
The Department of Employment Security is also reporting that Illinois continues to lead all Midwestern states in job growth since January 2004.
That means 198,100 new jobs. More than 34,000 of those have been added in the past year.

Italy unemployment rate halts long-running fall

By Gavin Jones
ROME, March 20 (Reuters) - Italy's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was stable in the fourth quarter of 2007 at 6.0 percent, the first time for four years that it failed to decline, data showed on Thursday.
National statistics institute ISTAT revised up the third quarter rate from 5.9 percent.
An ISTAT official said the data showed "a series of negative aspects" including a decline in new jobs and an increase in youth unemployment which rose year-on-year for the first time in two years.
The data is a warning signal for whoever wins an April 13-14 general election that even the labour market, which has held up well in recent years, is likely to deteriorate as economic growth weakens.
Employment declined quarter-on-quarter by 0.2 percentage points, the first fall since the third quarter of 2006.
"This is a first sign that in the next quarters and years we won't see any continuation of the decline in joblessness we have had for numerous years," said Paolo Mameli of Intesa Sanpaolo.
"Job growth and those seeking work are both slowing down, the economic cycle is weakening and this will also be reflected in employment data."
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate of 6.0 percent was above the mid-point forecast of 5.9 percent in a Reuters survey of analysts.
Despite a progressively less buoyant labour market, the average jobless rate of 6.1 percent over the whole of 2007 was down from 6.8 percent the year before and was the lowest since the series began in 1993.
However, the inactivity rate, indicating those who are neither working nor seeking work, also rose, a sign of more people giving up the search for work.
On an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter rose to 6.6 percent from 5.6 percent the previous quarter due to seasonal factors.
On a year-on-year basis, the rate was down from 6.9 percent in Q4 2006 but ISTAT pointed out that the 0.3 point decline was smaller than in any quarter for two years.
In the less developed south of the country, seasonally adjusted employment fell by a steep 0.8 percentage points from the previous quarter.
Until the latest data Italian unemployment had constantly come in below expectations, flummoxing many analysts as it has fallen steadily, even when the economy stagnated, since the mid 1990s.
The current jobless rate would have been considered unthinkable in Italy a decade ago when unemployment stood well over 12 percent.
However, analysts say Italy's real challenge lies in raising its employment rate -- which remains well below the euro zone average despite the fall in joblessness -- and increasing its activity rate, or the sum of people working or looking for work.
Currently, Italy has a lower unemployment rate than Germany, France and many other euro zone partners, but it also has fewer people in work and participating in the labour market, a factor which weighs on economic growth.
(Editing by Gerrard Raven)

Welsh economy is lagging behind

Wales' working population is lagging further behind the rest of the UK, according to official figures.
One in four of working age in Wales are defined as neither employed nor seeking work, more than in Scotland and England but lower than Northern Ireland.
The Welsh employment level has also fallen by 1.1% to 71.1% in a year, when the UK average has risen 0.3% to 74%.
But the number of people registered as unemployed in Wales is down to 4.9%, 0.3% below the UK average.
The overall gloomy economic picture of Wales is painted by the latest Labour market statistics compiled by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
Economic inactivity levels are regarded by some analysts as a key indicator of the overall health of an economy.
In Wales 448,000 people, 25.1% of the potential working population, are recorded as economically inactive, near the bottom of the league table.
The UK average is 21%.
Despite a 0.2% fall in the number of economically inactive across the UK during November, December and January, Wales has seen a rise of 0.8%.
Grim snapshot
The employment figures also appear to present a grim snapshot of the Welsh economy.
Despite an increase of 0.3% in employment rates across the UK to 74.8%, the position in Wales has deteriorated, with a fall of 1.1% taking the rate down to 71.1%.
This represents a fall in employment in Wales of 0.6% for the quarter, and 1.1% for the previous year.
The job statistics for the UK as a whole are much more positive than in Wales - with a UK increase of 0.3% for the quarter, and 0.4% for the year.
There is better news for Wales in the unemployed in Wales figures, however, which are more consistent with those of the UK as a whole.
4.9% are registered unemployed in Wales, compared to 5.2% for the UK.
This means around 3,000 people in Wales came off the unemployment register - bringing the total down to 69,000.
Across the UK as a whole, there has been a reduction of 0.1% compared to the previous quarter, and a fall of 0.3% over the last year.
'Kick-start'
The Welsh Conservatives said the data was "further worrying and real evidence of the failure of Labour's economic policies over recent years".
Party enterprise spokesman David Melding said: "We need radical solutions to kick-start the Welsh economy, to get more people into work, to develop skills, and to encourage business growth.
Welsh Liberal Democrat economic spokesperson Kirsty Williams described the Labour market figures as "a gloomy illustration of the weakening Welsh economy".
"The Plaid-Labour (Welsh assembly) government must commit to increasing the skills of the workforce and ensuring that Wales is a place to do business - they must do this now to get the Welsh economy back on its feet," she said.
The Welsh Assembly Government said in a statement that unemployment in Wales was below the UK average and employment "well above its historical average".
It continued: "These latest figures demonstrate that there are problems to overcome and the Welsh Assembly Government is not only committed to creating more jobs but also creating better skilled, better quality and better paid jobs."
An internal reorganisation to make the administration respond better to business needs, £200m single investment fund for firms and a more strategic use of European funds are amongst measures Welsh ministers hope will turn the tide.

5,000 City jobs go in first credit crunch effects

Ashley Seagar
Signs that the credit crunch is taking its toll on City jobs emerged yesterday as official data showed the first fall in financial sector employment in nearly six years.
The Office for National Statistics reported a drop of 5,000 jobs in the financial and business services sector in the final quarter of last year but acknowledged that the bulk of those were in finance. With the credit crunch having worsened since then, analysts expect many more City jobs to be shed this year.
That reported was the first drop since the second quarter of 2002, bringing an end to a period of growth in which nearly one million jobs were created. In spite of the latest fall, the sector added 150,000 jobs during 2007.
There was another hint in the data that the good run of falling unemployment and rising employment over the past couple of years may be coming to an end. The claimant count measure of joblessness fell by 2,800 in February from January - the smallest fall in the 17 months since unemployment began to drop.
Labour market figures are said by economists to react well after the economy has slowed or speeded up. Most expect economic growth to halve this year from the 2007 figure of 3.1% and that is likely to have an effect on the broader jobs market.
The report also showed that employment remained at a record high of 29.46 million in the three months to January, up 166,000 on the previous three months. Similarly, the broader measure of unemployment, known as the labour force survey, fell 32,000 to 1.61 million, 5.2% of the workforce.
The chancellor, Alistair Darling, said the jobs numbers were a sign that the economy was proving resilient to the effects of the credit crunch. He acknowledged that the economy faced "downside risks" from the credit market turmoil but added: "The British economy will continue to grow throughout this period of global uncertainty."
Growth in average earnings slowed to 3.7% in the three months to January, the lowest since last August. "This suggests that even if workers are seeking to compensate for the rise in the cost of living by demanding higher wages, they are not succeeding in getting them," said Janet Henry, economist at HSBC.
The data also showed that public sector employment rose for the first time in two years in the fourth quarter, to 5.78 million, pushed up 7,000 by the inclusion of Northern Rock's 6,000 employees and more jobs at an unnamed public corporation.
Separately, the CBI reported that industrial orders were strong last month, boosted by healthy demand from overseas, possibly helped by falls in the pound.
The CBI's latest survey of the sector showed firms determined to pass on price rises for raw materials. The survey's prices index rose to its highest level since 1995, something economists said would worry the Bank of England as it considers cutting interest rates.

Employment growth - Greater Montréal ranks first among the top performing Northeastern metropolitan areas

MONTREAL, March 19 /CNW Telbec/ - With a 2.5% employment growth in 2007,
Greater Montréal ranks first among the top five Northeastern metropolitan
areas, ahead of Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and New York. For North
America as a whole, Greater Montréal is in fourth place among the twenty most
populous metropolitan areas of Canada and the United States. This is what
emerges from the analysis of 2007 employment data on American metropolitan
areas, recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S.
Department of Labor, when compared with the Statistics Canada employment data
on Canada's metropolitan areas.
Over the past ten years, the Montréal metropolitan area has soared to the
top position in the continental Northeast and to fourth place among the twenty
biggest North American areas in term of job creation.
"These data once again confirm the vitality and dynamism of the Greater
Montréal economy. Since 1997, the region has grown very strongly. Greater
Montréal's good performance in employment is especially worthy of mention,
given that its population growth ranks it in the middle of the twenty biggest
agglomerations on the continent. This affects both employment growth and GDP
growth," notes André Gamache, President and Chief Executive Officer of
Montréal International.
About Montréal International (www.montrealinternational.com)
Montréal International was created in 1996 as a result of a
private/public partnership. Its mission is to contribute to the economic
development of Greater Montréal and to enhance its international status. Its
mandates include attracting foreign investment, international organizations
and strategic workers, and supporting the development of innovation and
high-technology clusters in the metropolitan region. Montréal International is
financed by the private sector, the Montréal Metropolitan Community, the City
of Montréal and the governments of Canada and Québec.
Since 2000, Montréal International has been involved in 379 direct
foreign investment projects totalling $5.6 billion. From these investments,
28,186 jobs have been created and 5,459 jobs have been maintained.
<<
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Employment growth in 2007
Rank 1 Atlanta 2.86% Rank 11 Los Angeles 1.38%
Rank 2 Phoenix 2.61% Rank 12 Chicago 1.04%
Rank 3 Seattle 2.53% Rank 13 Boston 0.78%
Rank 4 Montréal 2.47% Rank 14 Washington 0.69%
Rank 5 Toronto 2.26% Rank 15 Philadelphia 0.61%
Rank 6 Miami 2.21% Rank 16 San Diego 0.43%
Rank 7 Denver 1.96% Rank 17 Cleveland 0.25%
Rank 8 Houston 1.82% Rank 18 New York 0.09%
Rank 9 Dallas 1.57% Rank 19 Minneapolis -0.08%
Rank 10 San Francisco 1.42% Rank 20 Detroit -0.99%
Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics and Statistics Canada
Compilation: Montréal International
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
For further information: Céline Clément, Montréal International, (514)
987-9390, celine.clement@montrealinternational.com

Handbag maker Vera Bradley's suppliers to close, lay off workers

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Vera Bradley Designs, Inc., headquartered in Fort Wayne, has announced the closing of three local manufacturers that supply products for the company.
Phoenix Sewing, located at 9823 Indianapolis Road will permanently layoff 190 employees. Summit Production Systems, located at 1530 Progress Road in Fort Wayne, will layoff 200 employees and Mercury Manufacturing, located on Marciel Drive in Fort Wayne will layoff 147 employees.
The closings are attributed by Vera Bradley to its decision to consolidate all of its domestic production in-house.
The layoffs will begin as early as mid-May with completion expected in September.
A fourth supplier in Van Wert, Ohio, KAM Manufacturing, will also be shut down by the move.
The companies have been supplying Vera Bradley for years.
A press release issued by the company did not indicate if the consolidation would result in the addition of any jobs at its Fort Wayne facility located off I-69 near the General Motors plant in southwest Allen County.
A spokesperson for the Vera Bradley told Newschannel 15 the move comes as the company is vertically integrating to streamline operations.
The spokesperson said the move will result in the creation of many of the same jobs at the facility, and that preferential treatment will be given to the laid off workers to fill the positions.
The company is working Manpower to establish a phoneline solely for workers affected by the consolidation.
City officials have been notified of the news.
"We are hearing that the domestic capacity, the folks working and the domestic capacity is expcted to stay the same, if not grow. Certainly, we're not oblivious to some of the potential downfalls, obviously there are no guarantees that the impacted workers will be offered positions at the company," said Rob Young, President of the Fort Wayne/Allen County Economic Development Alliance.
Young said the city will be monitoring relations throughout the company's transitional period and making sure resources are available for the workers affected.
Vera Bradley was founded in 1982 and manufactures quilted cotton luggage, handbags and accessories.

San Diego Unified announces 900 layoff notices

SAN DIEGO – More than 900 teachers, principals, counselors and others employees of the San Diego Unified School District will be getting layoff notices as the state's second-largest district grapples with a nearly $80 million deficit.
Trustees voted 4-1 Tuesday to eliminate nearly 920 full-time positions. Among them are 416 elementary school teachers and 198 middle and high school teachers. Also included are nearly 62 counseling positions, 28 nurses and 75 principals and vice-principals.
Districts across the county are grappling with drastic reductions in revenue in the wake of a state budget deficit of more than $16 billion.
The Poway Unified School District is targeting $15.5 million in cuts that would mean a loss of 185 teachers, counselors and administrators; the Escondido Union School District is targeting $11 million in cuts that would mean the loss of 145 teachers, counselors and administrators; and the Vista Unified School District is targeting $12 million in cuts and 133 positions.

GM sets layoff at White Marsh

Parts-supplier strike brings temporary cuts
By Allison Connolly Sun reporter
March 8, 2008
More than half of the hourly workers at GM Powertrain's Baltimore Transmission plant will be temporarily furloughed due to a strike at a separate parts supplier that has forced General Motors Corp. to cut production at 19 of its plants, the company said yesterday.The walkout at Detroit-based American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. means GM doesn't have axles for certain pickup trucks and SUVs. GM spun off American Axle in 1994 and makes up 80 percent of its business. About 27,000 GM workers nationwide are affected by the temporary production cuts.At the GM plant in White Marsh, production of the Allison 1000 six-speed automatic transmission for the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra is scheduled to be idled next week, affecting two crews or about 220 workers. The plant employs a total of 440 - including 375 hourly workers. It was unclear how long production will be pared at the plant.

The remaining workers in White Marsh will continue to build hybrid transmissions for the Chevrolet Tahoe, spokesman John Raut said. White Marsh supplies an Arlington, Texas, plant where the hybrid trucks are assembled. If the company stops all production at the Texas plant because of the strike, the remaining White Marsh workers would be affected."We're all hoping that it's over quickly so people can come back to work," Raut said.Workers furloughed from GM's White Marsh plant will receive state unemployment benefits as well as supplemental pay from GM, which combined should equal about 85 percent of their take-home pay, Raut said. Their health benefits will stay intact, he said.The strike could also idle production at a Chrysler plant in Newark, Del., a Chrysler LLC spokeswoman said, where some Maryland residents are employed. American Axle makes axles and related parts for the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen.About 3,600 members of the United Auto Workers walked off the job at five American Axle plants in Michigan and New York Feb. 26 after contract talks broke down. The union said the company is demanding wage reductions of up to $14 an hour and termination of future retiree and pension benefits. Company and union officials returned to the negotiating table yesterday.The strike hasn't been all that bad for GM, said Jamie Kitman, New York bureau chief for Automobile Magazine and U.S. editor of Top Gear, a British auto magazine. The nation's biggest carmaker has been able to tap inventory that has piled up because of flagging sales of large trucks, he said.But if the strike does cost GM more money, expect the company to exert pressure on American Axle to reach an agreement with workers, said Alexander Edwards, president of the automotive consulting division at Los Angeles-based Strategic Vision Inc."I don't believe the strike will last long because neither GM nor the workers can afford it," Edwards said.For customers, a prolonged strike may mean that they have less of a selection when they visit the dealer, Edwards said.allison.connolly@baltsun.com
The Associated Press and Bloomberg News contributed to this article.

1,000 face layoffs at GM's Willow Run complex

By STEFANIE MURRAYThe Ann Arbor News
Nearly 1,000 people will be laid off from two transmission plants inside General Motors Corp.'s sprawling Willow Run facility Monday, as the company shuts down production because of the ongoing strike at American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.
The 11-day strike by United Auto Workers union employees has stopped the flow of component parts to GM and is now affecting at least 19 of the company's factories. The UAW and American Axle talked Thursday and were scheduled to meet again today, American Axle spokeswoman Renee Rogers said.
At Willow Run in Ypsilanti Township, the shutdown will affect 462 workers at Ypsilanti Transmission Operations, which makes six-speed transmissions, spokeswoman Daphne Adams said. Portions of the Willow Run transmission plant will also be affected, as 521 tradesman and people who work on the 4L80 transmission and two converters will be laid off.
As of now, the strike is not impacting the other roughly 1,000 hourly workers at the Willow Run transmission plant, nor the 800 people who work at the site's Ypsilanti Engineering Center. In total, the shutdown will impact about 1,000 of the total 3,300 salary and hourly workers who work among the three separate business units within the Willow Run facility.
While the plants are idled, the hourly workers affected are entitled to state unemployment benefits and supplemental pay per the UAW's contract with GM.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Stefanie Murray at smurray@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6932.

Kitchener Frame to lay off 147 as toll from U.S. strike mounts

Kitchener Frame Ltd. will lay off 147 workers tomorrow, making them the latest victims of a labour dispute in the United States that has idled General Motors plants and their suppliers.
Mike Devine, president of the Canadian Auto Workers Local 1451, said there are no further layoffs planned at the Kitchener frame manufacturer.
"That's it for now," he said yesterday. "We really don't know what the impact will be."
American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. workers walked off the job on Feb. 26, stalling production at six General Motors plants, including its Oshawa truck assembly plant and a plant Moraine, Ohio.
Kitchener Frame makes frames for sport utility vehicles assembled in the Moraine plant.
American Axle, which employs 3,650 workers in Detroit and upper New York state, makes axles for GM trucks and sport utility vehicles. The company is demanding a 50-per-cent pay cut from its workers, according to the United Auto Workers union.
Talks are slated to resume today, which could offer a glimmer of hope for hundreds of laid-off auto parts workers in Waterloo Region.
Besides Kitchener Frame, three other local GM suppliers have laid off workers since the American Axle strike began last week.
Tenneco Inc. has laid off 200 workers at its Cambridge plant while Lear Corp. has laid off 65 workers at its Kitchener plant.
Tenneco has also laid off hundreds of workers at other facilities in Ontario, including 430 workers at its plant in Owen Sound.
AGS Automotive Systems issued 60 layoff notices to its Cambridge workforce. The company has also laid off 170 workers at its Oshawa and Scarborough facilities.
GM said it will slow its production levels at plants in Toledo, Ohio, and Janesville, Wisc., due to the strike.
mhammond@therecord.com

Citigroup to Layoff 30,000 Employees

Citigroup’s job cuts could reach 30,000 or more over the next year and a half because of increasing writedowns from subprime-related debt, CNBC has learned.
The layoffs would exceed the previously reported 24,000 job cuts that had been expected at the banking giant.
Chief Executive Vikram S. Pandit is currently conducting a massive cost review and could cut as much as 10 percent of the bank’s workforce of 370,000, according to people familiar with the situation.
In the past, Citigroup would lay off people and then hire them back as consultants. But with more bad-debt writedowns looming, Pandit wants to make the cuts permanent, sources say.

Elk Grove board issues layoff notices for 217 school jobs

By Melissa Nix - mnix@sacbee.com

In a unanimous decision, the Elk Grove Unified School District board voted Tuesday night to issue 388 lay-off notices, representing 217 certificated and classified positions, following a recommendation by Superintendent Steven M. Ladd.

"We do not enjoy bringing these difficult recommendations to the board or the community," said Ladd. "They are painful. I want to emphasis again, however, that these are just possible layoffs."
The difference in number – 388 notices versus 217 positions – can be explained in two ways.

First, some of the district's employees are not full-time. Two part-time workers make up one of the 217 positions, for example. Second, notification is based on seniority. In some cases, as many as 20 employees have the same starting date.
"We have to notify all 20 employees at this point," said district spokeswoman Elizabeth Graswich.
On March 11, the board will be presented with a resolution of tie-breaking criteria for those with the same seniority, she said.
The board's move Tuesday night comes as the state plans to cut $4.8 billion from education. Elk Grove Unified, for its part, faces a state funding shortfall of $25 million for the 2008-09 school year. Personnel is the largest district expenditure.
Of the 217 positions, 137 are full-time certificated positions, including three counselors, 56 elementary teachers, 17 ninth-grade math teachers, 17 ninth-grade English teachers, six high school life science teachers, six high school social studies teachers, one high school business teacher, one world language teacher, two high school physical education teachers and 28 instructional coaches.
The 80 classified positions include office assistants, teaching associates, job developers and program educators in the Adult and Community Education Department and library technicians and instructional assistants at elementary schools.
The district has about 3,200 certificated and 2,400 classified employees.
Pink slips, however, do not necessarily mean layoffs.
Ladd said last week the district won't know if layoffs will be necessary until the state budget is passed.

By law, the district must issue teachers' pink slips for the next school year no later than March 15 and classified workers' by May 15.

The district must have a balanced budget by June 30, whether or not the state's final budget has been passed.

Because of the anticipated $16 billion state budget shortfall, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed cutting 10 percent across the board from such big-ticket budget items as education, corrections, health care and parks and recreation. Sacramento County's school districts face $85 million in cuts.

Motricity Layoff is Official - 250 Employees Cut

The pink slips finally arrived at Motricity in North Carolina, yesterday. We first had this news back on the 26th of February - but at that time, it was only a rumor, nothing had been set in stone yet.
This all changed yesterday - Motricity ended up cutting a total of 250 workers at its Durham location, and has confirmed that it will be moving corporate headquarters to Bellevue, Washington.
A skeleton crew of less than 100 employees will remain in Durham, and the company will either sublet the excess space in its facility, or move to a smaller location.
Employees being cut will receive severance based on their seniority as well as vacation time.

Layoff log: Buyout binge on the Bay

The big news comes out of the Bay area, where some 1,300 employees at San Francisco-area newspapers were offered buyouts. The San Jose Mercury News offered packages aimed at shedding nearly 200 non-union employees and also said it would cut an unspecified number of union jobs. Bay Area News Group-East Bay, which includes the Tribune, the Times and 14 other newspapers, offered all 1,100 of its employees the chance to apply for buyouts, raising the question of what it would do if everyone took the offer. On the other hand, that might be a preferable option to staying in business. Employees have to decide by the end of this week.
MetroActive describes the somber mood in the Merc newsroom, which has lost half its staff since 2001. The story quotes the president of the San Jose Newspaper Guild says, “A whole lot [of people] have been looking for something else because they are done. This is not a company that people want to work for.” But where else are you going to go?
The AP quotes a veteran Merc business reporter saying, “We’ve been through this a number of times. You just wonder when it’s all going to end. The problem is nobody knows where the bottom of this is.” Hint: it’s still a long way down. The Merc covers its own gloomy news here.
In nearby Tracy, Calif., the Tracy Press has scaled its frequency back from five times weekly to twice weekly over the last six months and just laid off an unspecified number of staffers. The paper has a free circulation of 9,700. One of the laid-off employees commented, “I’m a victim of three things: the Internet, the real estate mess and the recession.” Management at Tracy’s two other daily newspapers — the San Joaquin Herald and Stockton Record — have also recently announced cost-cutting measures, though this story didn’t specify what they were.

Ford Explorer plant to lay off up to 800

SUV's falling sales doom night shift
Ford Motor Co. will eliminate the second shift at its Louisville Explorer plant by midsummer, laying off as many as 800 workers.

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But in making the announcement yesterday, the automaker repeated its commitment to invest in the plant and build a new vehicle there in the next two years -- though company officials remain mum on what will be built or how many workers will be needed.
The doomed night shift at the Louisville Assembly Plant on Fern Valley Road employs 1,000 people, or half its work force.
A layoff of 800 "is in the ballpark," Ford spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari said yesterday. "We don't know until we know how many people take buyouts."
Ford officials have been candid about weaning the payroll of workers who earn between $28 and $30 an hour. Under terms of its latest contract with the United Auto Workers, Ford can replace up to 20 percent of its work force with employees who will earn half as much.
Even with lucrative buyouts being dangled at both Ford plants in Louisville until March 18, union officials yesterday predicted the ax will fall on a number of workers this summer.
A previous buyout, just last year, lured 2,000 away.
Now, few workers have the stomach or the resources to leave voluntarily, said UAW Local 862 Building Chairman Bruce Day, who oversees the 2,070 hourly workers at the Louisville Assembly Plant.
"We thought we would get through this, but we are not going to," Day said after a news conference last night. "There will be layoffs."
Explorer sales dwindle
Ford plans to impose the job cuts in late summer. The layoffs will eliminate the sporadic, weeklong, plant shutdowns the company has imposed every few months in recent years to hold production closer to sales, Ford officials said yesterday.
"We have to take some tough actions," Gattari said, noting that sales of the Explorer had plummeted by 32 percent since 2004. Ford announced yesterday that it sold 9,452 Explorers last month, 27 percent less than a year earlier. Ford has said it plans to stop building the Explorer altogether by the time it starts building a new vehicle in Louisville.
Right now, the plant cranks out 3,080 Explorers a week, clearly more than demanded by a car-buying public drawn increasingly to crossover sport utility vehicles or compact cars that consume less gas, Day said.
"We have been struggling to sell what we build," he said. "Until the economy comes back, I don't see us coming back."
But the contract approved last fall between UAW members and Ford Motor Co. contained pledges to invest in the Louisville Assembly Plant and bring a new vehicle there by 2010. Ford officials still plan to honor that contract, Gattari added.
"We made commitments to invest in these plants," Gattari said. "We intend to keep those commitments."
The last Explorer will roll off the line at the Louisville Assembly Plant in August of 2009, UAW Local 862 President Rocky Comito said yesterday.
What union officials need to know before that time, he and Day added, is how many Explorers, SportTracs and Mercury Mountaineers Ford plans to assemble each week. Only then can they calculate how many workers the plant needs.
"We do not know the number," Day said. "We hope the company will tell us next week."
Civic leaders look to future
Government and community leaders yesterday downplayed the impact that Ford's announcement would have in Louisville, saying the automaker's plans give reason to believe the city will fare well in the long run.
Mayor Jerry Abramson said he was "disappointed" by news of the layoffs. But "they emphasized to us again today that there is a new vehicle in the works."
Abramson warned, however, that the city may have to go back and make budget cuts as it absorbs the impact of declining wage tax receipts from Ford workers.
He pledged that he and Gov. Steve Beshear will follow up with a planned trip to Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.
U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District, said he believes the community will bounce back quickly once Ford launches the new vehicle line.
Ford is eligible for hefty state tax incentives to help fund upgrades to the Louisville Assembly Plant. Last fall, the automaker applied for and received $60 million in tax incentives in exchange for plans to invest $200 million to retool the Kentucky Truck Plant on Chamberlain Lane.
"We did whatever we could last year to try to help them stay in Kentucky," House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, said yesterday.
Worries at truck plant
Yet there are tough times at the Kentucky Truck Plant too, where rolling layoffs have trimmed 350 workers for two to three weeks at a time since last fall in response to lagging sales of F-Series Super Duty trucks, UAW committeeman Rodney Janes said.
Rolling layoffs recruit volunteers who agree to be furloughed temporarily and receive most of their hourly wages through unemployment benefits and union-negotiated supplements.
Janes said that at the truck plant, which employs 4,000, some workers believe the company is arm-twisting workers to take the buyout to make room for new hires who will earn between $14 to $16 an hour with lesser health benefits.
"The morale is at an all-time low," Janes said. "The perception of our membership is that the company is trying to scare people into taking the buyouts."
Still, fear of gasoline prices soaring as high as $4 per gallon this summer softens demand each month for trucks and sport utility vehicles built in Louisville.
Ford is trimming inventories of increasingly unpopular trucks, sport utility vehicles and large cars.
At the Chicago Assembly Plant, home to the Mercury Sable, Taurus and Taurus X -- all slow-selling large passenger cars -- Ford will cut production to one shift, the automaker also announced yesterday. Ford is also cutting a shift at a Cleveland engine plant and delaying a restart of production at a second engine plant there until the end of this year.
Gattari said such trims are needed for Ford to survive.
"This is not something we want to be doing. We would much rather be growing," she said. "It is sad that that is how it feels, like arm-twisting."

LOCKPORT: Delphi to lay off 190

About 190 workers at Delphi Thermal Corp. in Lockport will be on temporary layoff starting this week, as a result of the American Axle & Manufacturing strike that began Feb. 26.Lindsey Williams, senior manager of corporate affairs for Delphi, said the local Delphi layoffs will certainly take place this week, and may have already begun as of Monday.“There will be a temporary layoff of approximately 190 workers because of reduced volume at our customer locations,” Williams said Monday night.He said the customer locations that Delphi supplies primarily involve General Motors Corp.American Axle supplies auto parts to GM plants, as does Delphi.Williams reiterated that the Delphi layoffs are “temporary in nature,” and said that as the American Axle strike issues are settled, Delphi workers would be called back.“We will adjust our production schedule according to our customer schedule,” he said.

Metaldyne Plant to Lay Off 125 Employees

48 hourly employees of Metaldyne will be cut this week, and another 50 will be let go in stages throughout the month of March. This comes on the heels of a layoff of 25 employees earlier this month.
A statement released by the company says that they are “right sizing the workforce because we have less demands because of reduced demand from Chrysler.”

573 Santa Ana teachers to receive layoff notices

Santa Ana Unified School District's class-size reduction also faces elimination.
By FERMIN LEAL
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Comments 23 Recommend 8
SANTA ANA – Up to 573 Santa Ana Unified teachers will receive layoff notices next month and the cash-strapped district may also increase dozens of elementary and high school class sizes from 20 to 30 or more students.
The school board voted late Tuesday to issue the layoff notices as part of an effort to trim $27 million more from the district's budget.
The teaching positions are mostly tied to the state's class-size reduction program, which district staff said might not be funded next school year because of the state's ongoing budget crisis.
Santa Ana Unified has classes limited to 20 students in every first- through third-grade classroom, and in all ninth-grade English and math classes.
"It's definitely a huge number of people we will be noticing," said trustee Audrey Yamagat-Noji. "But it doesn't necessarily mean we will be losing 573 people. A lot still has to happen before we actually have to finalize things."
School districts are required by law by March 15 to notify teachers who might be laid off at the end of the school year. Districts normally aim high to have flexibility when working out next year's budget.
By summer, the state budget is usually more settled, and districts know how many staffers are leaving through retirement or job change. That's when actual firings take place. Many of those given notice in March end up keeping their jobs.
Juan Lopez, the district's director of human resources, said the layoffs will hinge on whether the state funds the class-size reduction program at the same rate as in previous years.
If layoffs occur, teachers would be chosen by their seniority level, not by which teaching assignments they have, district staff said. For example, a teacher high on the seniority list that is assigned to the class-size reduction program would be reassigned to another subject or grade, while a teacher low on the seniority list would lose his or her job.
It's still unclear how much the potential job cuts will save the district, said spokesperson Angela Burrell. Officials in Santa Ana Unified cut $14 million, mostly in administrative and facilities costs, from the budget before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his budget proposal for next year.
Under the governor's proposal, district officials said they would have to cut $27 million more to avoid a deficit to the district's $450 million annual budget.
Contact the writer: 714-445-6687 or fleal@ocregister.com

Mass layoff numbers show 654 jobs lost in Colorado

Seven Colorado companies were responsible for the mass layoffs of 654 people last month, according to a report released Wednesday by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A mass layoff means more than 50 employees at a single company lost their jobs. The data is culled from new filings for unemployment insurance benefits.
The report shows fewer mass layoffs at Colorado companies than in the recent past, with 12 employers eliminating 767 jobs in December and 14 businesses laying off 1,244 workers in November.
During January 2007, 11 Colorado companies cut 818 jobs through mass layoffs.

Siemens Layoff Announcement

Siemens today confirmed its plans to lay off approximately 4,000 workers. Siemens described the move as "intended to accelerate the company’s transformation from a hardware supplier to a software and solutions provider to fit changed market conditions," and the details of the "reorientation" plan illustrate what exactly this entails.
As it changes to a software provider, SEN [Siemens Enterprise] will give up its own manufacturing operations. In Germany, plans call for the SEN plant in Leipzig, which currently has about 530 employees, and the telecommunications cable business, with some 60 employees, to be sold or funneled into solutions involving a third party. In addition, SEN is seeking a partnership with an IT provider for around 570 employees involved in direct sales to customers for small and mid-sized systems. This move would enable this sales channel to offer an expanded product portfolio in the future so that customers get all solutions from a single source and enjoy greater benefits. Reinhard Benditte, head of business administration at SEN, noted: “All of SEN’s competitors rely almost exclusively on indirect sales models, which gives them far greater flexibility and a substantially more favorable cost position.”
This positive spin isn't necessarily at odds with the interpretation offered in earlier New York Times reports, which positioned the moves as a step aimed at facilitating the long-anticipated sale of Siemens Enterprise, which was spun off from the parent Siemens company a year and a half ago. Pretty much from the start, Siemens has been the most aggressive "traditional" voice player when it comes to recognizing the role of software in the business going forward and crafting a response to this trend. Getting rid of manufacturing and moving to indirect channels for SMB sales certainly would be consistent with these trends--as well as making Siemens look more attractive to a potential acquirer.

Group Health to lay off 363 in Redmond closure

Overlake, other facilities hiring
By DAN RICHMANP-I REPORTER
Seattle's Group Health Cooperative has told 363 hospital employees they will be laid off as the nonprofit system's Eastside campus in Redmond begins shutting down.
But the precise number of people who will be out of work is hard to determine.
That's because Group Health says some of the affected workers may be hired to fill openings at its outpatient facilities, or at Bellevue's newly expanded Overlake Hospital Medical Center.
"It's a complicated situation," Group Health spokesman Mike Foley said.
About half the affected employees are nurses, with the rest serving as supervisors, lab assistants, pharmacists, pharmacist technicians, clerks, janitors and food servers, Foley said.
All work at Group Health's Hospital & Specialty Center, at 2700 152nd Ave. N.E. in Redmond, which will stop providing inpatient services May 1. After that, Group Health will house all its inpatients at Overlake, though its own doctors will care for them.
Overlake, which recently built a 120-bed inpatient tower, has made job offers to about 50 laid-off Group Health workers, 35 of them nurses, Overlake spokeswoman Karen Johnson said.
She confirmed the hospital is creating up to 400 new jobs as a result of opening its new south tower in September.
But the Group Health workers must apply for positions at Overlake -- it's not just a question of transferring. That doesn't sit well with Chris Barton, secretary treasurer of Service Employees International Union Health Care 1199 Northwest, which represents most of the affected workers.
"Overlake should have offered incentives and guaranteed them jobs right upfront, because jobs are being created by patients going there," Barton said.
"It's a big mistake they didn't do that, because RNs don't grow on trees."
Group Health's Foley called the layoff situation complicated, because "people with seniority bump those with less seniority for existing positions and bid for jobs."
Even SEIU's Barton couldn't say how many of the affected workers might end up jobless.
"We're just now having people ID the jobs they'd be interested in and deciding whether they want a severance package," she said.
The laid-off workers got notice about two weeks ago, though the state's Employment Security Department released news of the layoffs only Monday.
Group Health's Eastside campus consists of three facilities: the Hospital & Specialty Center, the Primary Care Center and the Behavioral Health Services.
The latter also offers vision and hearing services.
Outpatient medical specialties, such as cardiology and urology -- now offered at the Hospital & Specialty Center -- are scheduled to move July 1 to a new outpatient center next to Overlake Hospital.
The Primary Care Center is scheduled to close in October and move to a new facility in Redmond.
Foley said the layoffs "have nothing to do" with cuts promised in a November memo from Group Health Chief Executive Scott Armstrong and Medical Director Hugh Straley. They told the system's 9,700 employees that its current cost structure was "unsustainable."
They also said Group Health will cut $108 million from its 2008 budget by laying off employees and cutting some functions, in an attempt to keep its rates below those of competitors.
In a previous round of layoffs, Group Health cut at least 75 workers late last year. In August, it moved into new headquarters in the Westlake/Terry Building on South Lake Union.
P-I reporter Dan Richman can be reached at 206-448-8032 or danrichman@seattlepi.com.

Employment Data Raises Recession Fears

The all-important Employment Report issued this morning has served to heighten recession fears and back up expectations that the Federal Reserve will again cut interest rates when it meets later this month.
The Labor Dept. reported employment fell in February at its fastest rate in five years, with nonfarm payrolls declining 63,000. That came on the heels of a 22,000 decline in January, which was the first decline in over four years. The Wall Street Journal noted that if not for a solid rise in government jobs last month, payrolls would have fallen by over 100,000.
The unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 4.8%, which analysts said was not an improvement but really reflected a decline of some 450,000 in the workforce.
Meanwhile, the Fed announced it is adopting new steps to help ease the credit crisis, including increasing the amount of money it will auction to banks.
Today's Employment data came against a backdrop of losses in U.S. stocks Thursday and continued declines in Asian and European markets in overnight actio

Canada Adds 43,300 Jobs; Unemployment Stays at 5.8%

By Greg Quinn
March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's job growth topped the most optimistic forecasts for a second straight month in February and wages kept surging, as gains by service providers offset losses in manufacturing.
Payrolls rose by 43,300 last month after a 46,400 gain in January, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. The jobless rate remained 5.8 percent, matching a 33-year low set in October. The job gain was more than double the highest forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 21 economists, which had a median estimate of 3,000.
Canada's dollar rose on the employment data and then fell after the U.S. reported an unexpected job loss, as investors speculated about whether domestic spending will carry the economy through an export slump. The Bank of Canada cut its benchmark rate half a point on March 4, the most since 2001, and may ease by a quarter of a point at each of the next two meetings, said economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
``We will see at least some near-term support from strong job growth to domestic spending,'' said Charmaine Buskas, senior economics strategist at TD Securities in Toronto. ``Canadian domestic fundamentals remain resilient, it's just the trade sector and the spillover that Canada is having to endure from the U.S. that remains the primary drag.''
The currency weakened 0.4 percent to 98.98 Canadian cents per U.S. dollar at 4:14 p.m. in Toronto from 98.56 cents yesterday. Earlier today it had appreciated 1.1 percent.
Bond Yields
The yield on the government's 10-year bond was little changed at 3.56 percent, the lowest since Bloomberg began keeping data on the subject in 1989. The price on the 4 percent security due June 2017 was C$103.40.
Hourly wages rose 4.9 percent in February from a year earlier, matching the fastest pace in at least a decade for a third consecutive month.
``With so many working, and being paid so much to do so, it's hard to see consumer spending slowing down,'' Avery Shenfeld, an economist at CIBC World Markets in Toronto, wrote in a note to clients.
Hiring in the service industry rose by 55,800 in February, while employment fell by 12,500 for goods-producing companies, Statistics Canada said.
About 20,800 people found work in construction, another 15,800 were hired in public administration and 15,600 started professional and scientific jobs.
The job and wage gains won't deter the Bank of Canada from cutting borrowing costs again on April 22, perhaps by another 50 basis points, said Stewart Hall, an economist for HSBC Securities Canada Inc. in Toronto.
`Plenty of Skeletons'
``There are still plenty of skeletons in the closet,'' such as shrinking foreign demand for factory exports, Hall said. ``My inclination would be to lean toward 50.''
Buskas at TD Securities also predicts another half-point cut next month.
``The bank is still worried about the tepid tone in inflation,'' she said.
Excluding volatile items such as fresh fruit, inflation slowed to 1.4 percent in January, the least since July 2005. Central bankers focus on that ``core'' rate as a guide to future trends, and its moderation suggests inflation may slow from January's 2.2 percent pace.
Also, the jobs report showed manufacturers continue to struggle with the effects of the country's strong dollar, weak U.S. demand and high energy costs. Factory payrolls fell by 23,700, bringing the 12-month loss to 105,700 or 5.1 percent. Manufacturing now accounts for a record low 11.6 percent of total employment, down from 15 percent at the end of 2002.
Factory Shipments
Factory shipments fell the most in 4 1/2 years in December, led by the biggest drop in automobile production since 1996, as sluggish sales prompted companies to extend maintenance shutdowns, Statistics Canada said Feb. 15.
Most of Canada's auto production is exported to the U.S., which today said it unexpectedly lost 63,000 jobs in February, the biggest drop since March 2003 and adding to evidence the world's largest economy is in a recession.
Canada's economic growth will slow to 1.8 percent this year because of weak export demand and the high dollar, the Bank of Canada says. The currency hit a record 90.58 Canadian cents per U.S. dollar on Nov. 7, on commodity prices.
For a second month, hiring was dominated by private-sector gains and full-time work. Canada added 49,500 full-time jobs and part-time employment decreased by 6,200 in February. Companies hired 30,800 people, while governments hired 12,100.
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Quinn in Ottawa at gquinn1@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: March 7, 2008 16:19 EST

Media Work Force Sinks to 15-Year Low

U.S. media employment in December fell to a 15-year low (886,900), slammed by the slumping newspaper industry. But employment in advertising/marketing-services -- agencies and other firms that provide marketing and communications services to marketers -- broke a record in November (769,000). Marketing consulting powered that growth.