Layoffs Surge for Another Month Despite Job Gains

Empty Office

Layoffs at U.S. companies surged for another month as businesses adjusted to current market conditions, despite huge reported job gains, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

Job cuts increased to 84,638 in February, 3% higher than in January when layoffs also soared, and 9% higher than February last year, which had 77,770 cuts, according to the report. The layoffs are in spite of strong reported job growth, with the U.S. adding 353,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in January, far higher than expectations of 180,000.

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Vice Media ‘Eliminating Several Hundred Positions’, Will Stop Publishing on Website

Empty Office

Vice Media on Thursday announced that it would stop publishing content on its website and lay off hundreds of its employees as a cost-cutting measure.

“We create and produce outstanding original content true to the Vice brand,” CEO Bruce Dixon said in a statement obtained by the Washington Post. “However, it is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously.”

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Former CEO: High Interest Rates ‘Killing’ Companies as Layoffs Continue

Bob Nardelli

President Joe Biden is blaming corporations for high prices and “shrinkflation.” Business executives and many economists disagree, arguing the real problem is inflation created by federal deficit spending policies.

Ahead of the Super Bowl, Biden posted a video on X saying, “While you were Super Bowl shopping, did you notice smaller-than-usual products where the price stays the same? Folks are calling it Shrinkflation and it means companies are giving you less for every dollar you spend. I’m calling on the big consumer brands to put a stop to it.”

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Citigroup Set to Begin Massive Layoffs

One of the U.S.’ top banks will begin massive layoffs on Wednesday in a corporate overhaul as the company seeks to trim its operating expenses to levels more in line with its competitors, according to CNBC.

Citigroup will begin cutting employees on Wednesday, with new terminations continuing to be announced through next week, affecting some chiefs of staff, managing directors and lower-level employees, according to CNBC. Following the initial round of layoffs, more employees in less senior positions are expected to be dismissed in February, with the layoffs being expected to be fully completed by March 2024.

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Ohio Ford Workers Brace for Layoffs as Strike Continues

More than 300 striking auto workers at Ford’s Brook Park plant are preparing today for layoffs as the United Auto Workers strike against the nation’s Big Three automakers continues.

The UAW Local 1250 on its website told laid-off workers to register for strike assistance pay and Ohio unemployment benefits. About 370 total workers are expected to be impacted by the lay-off.

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GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to Lay Out Blueprint for ‘Rolling Back the Powers’ of the Administrative State in Major Speech

Republican Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday will lay out his plan to break the grip of power held by the administrative state.

“There is an unconstitutional, fourth branch of government that is choking American democracy, and it is called the administrative state,” Ramaswamy asserts in an advance copy of a white paper speech provided to The Star News Network by the Ohio entrepreneur’s campaign.

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Major Environmental Group Is at War with Itself over Race, ‘Equity’

The Sierra Club has experienced major infighting recently after major layoffs and changes left minority staffers feeling snubbed, The Washington Post reported.

Ben Jealous, the executive director of the Sierra Club since November 2022, let go more than two dozen workers, many of whom were people of color, in April and May of 2023 as part of a “reconstruction” effort and relabeled the nonprofit’s “People, Culture, and Equity Department” to just be the “People Department,” according to the Post. Employees at the Sierra Club protested these changes and wrote a letter on Thursday through the Progressive Workers Union, the union for the nonprofit, alleging that the organization’s moves were contrary to its stated goal of diversity.

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MTV News Shuts Down amid Paramount Layoffs

MTV News is set to shut down all operations this week, amid a series of mass layoffs at its parent company Paramount Global.

As Fox News reports, the decision was announced in a company memo on Tuesday, thus bringing an end to the pop culture and news outlet 36 years after it was first created. MTV News had been founded in 1987 in an effort to create content that would blend music and pop culture with news and politics, ostensibly to appeal to members of Generation X as well as the then-upcoming Millennial generation.

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Connecticut Colleges Could Face Layoffs, Cuts Under Lamont’s Budget

Connecticut’s public university system is facing the prospect of layoffs and deep cuts under the state budget proposal for the next fiscal year, which could also prompt tuition and fee hikes for students.

According to Connecticut State Colleges and Universities President Terrence Cheng, who announced on Monday the public college system would be forced to eliminate more than 3,600 full and part-time jobs — including 654 layoffs — under the two-year, $51 billion spending plan being considered by state lawmakers. 

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Disney Set for Layoffs After Billion-Dollar Earnings Miss

CEO Bob Chapek of Disney told executives that layoffs at the entertainment giant were likely, just days after a weak earnings report that missed expectations by over $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing an internal memo.

The email also announced a hiring freeze among other cost-saving measures including a request to limit travel without prior approval from executives, according to the WSJ. The company missed expectations for its fourth quarter earnings on Nov. 8 after losing nearly $1.5 billion on its Disney+ streaming service, nearly 40% worse than what analysts anticipated.

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Elon Musk’s Twitter Begins Mass Layoffs: ‘Incredibly Challenging’

Twitter began laying staff off Friday, with up to half its workforce expected to be fired in a cost-cutting move by new owner and CEO Elon Musk.

The move comes eight days after Musk’s $44 billion deal to purchase the company, and after more than a week of conflicting reports about the extent and timing of layoffs that employees considered to be inevitable, Reuters reported. In addition to layoffs, Musk is having remaining Twitter staff work on a “Deep Cuts Plan,” designed to save $1 billion per year in infrastructure costs including server space and cloud computing services, Reuters reported.

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Americans for Prosperity Calls Out Oracle for Reported Layoffs While Receiving Taxpayer Money

Following a report that tech company Oracle has begun laying off workers from its Nashville location, the libertarian conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity is calling on state and local leaders to scrutinize the company especially after it received “nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money.”

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Expect Layoffs and a Recession If Fed Doesn’t Let Up, Bank of America Exec Warns

If the U.S. Federal Reserve continues its policy of aggressive interest rate hikes, the U.S. could lose hundreds of thousands of jobs, spiking unemployment, according to a Bank of America analysis, CNN reported.

Bank of America’s Chief U.S. Economist Michael Gapen expects roughly six months of relatively high unemployment and a”mild recession,” as the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes blunt consumer demand, he told CNN Monday. However, Gapen also noted that the typical bounceback seen after a recession might be delayed if the Fed, which has been incredibly hawkish on interest rates, refuses to reduce rates.

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Twilio Says Layoffs Planned Through ‘Anti-Racist’ Lens

A technology company based in San Francisco plans to lay off 11 percent of its workforce, and plans to do so with race in mind. 

“As you all know, we are committed to becoming an Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression company,” said Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson in a message to employees. “Layoffs like this can have a more pronounced impact on marginalized communities, so we were particularly focused on ensuring our layoffs – while a business necessity today – were carried out through an Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression lens.”

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Ford to Cut 7,000 Jobs, 10 Percent of Global Staff

  Ford plans to cut 7,000 jobs, or 10 percent of its global workforce, as part of a reorganization as it revamps its vehicle offerings, the company said Monday. The reorganization will involve some layoffs and reassignments and should be complete by the end of August, a Ford spokeswoman said. Ford has been phasing out most sedan models in the United States as more consumers have opted for pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. The move, which began last year, will lead to 800 layoffs in North America in total, including about 500 this week, said Ford spokeswoman Marisa Bradley. The company has yet to determine the specifics in other regions, she said. “As we have said, Ford is undergoing an organizational redesign process helping us create a more dynamic, agile and empowered workforce, while becoming more fit as a business,” Bradley said. “We understand this is a challenging time for our team, but these steps are necessary to position Ford for success today and yet preparing to thrive in the future.” Ford had signaled it expected significant job cuts in April 2018 when it announced a plan to phase out several small models in North America. At the same…

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After 50 Years, Ohio’s Lordstown Assembly Complex Ceases Production

COLUMBUS, Ohio– On Wednesday, with dignity and uncertainty, the workers of Lordstown Assembly Plant assembled their last vehicle. The plant will still make certain parts but the Chevy Cruze, which had been produced and assembled at the plant since 2011, will no longer be produced in Ohio. As previously reported, in November of last year General Motors, the plant’s current operators, announced that five plants across America would be permanently shut down, or, as they referred to it in their public statement:”unallocated.” The plan was met with immediate backlash. President Donald Trump personally decried the decision, demanding that GM find a way to keep these plants open. After months of failed negotiations between GM, the federal government, the Ohio state government, labor leaders, national unions, and other car manufacturers, GM officially began their mass layoffs on February 5. Wednesday, Lordstown became the first of the five plants to cease operations. Almost all of the 1,700 employees have been, or will be, laid off. GM maintains that the plant will remain in a “state of readiness” should they find cause to reopen it for a new operator. However, this remains unlikely. GM has made it clear that its future with the plant is over. The Lordstown plant workers are currently represented by…

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Gannett Announces More Layoffs With Closure of Nashville Design Studio At The Tennessean

Gannett on Tuesday announced plans to shut down its Nashville Design Studio housed at The Tennessean, a closure that will affect up to 88 jobs. The design work will now be done in Des Moines, Iowa; Louisville, Kentucky; and Phoenix, Arizona. The transition is set to be complete Oct. 1. There will be some opportunities for Nashville employees to work remotely, but Gannett did not say how many employees would have that chance. The Tennessean has been planning to relocate its offices and recently selected a buyer for its property in downtown Nashville. Laura Hollingsworth, the publication’s president, told Nashville Business Journal  it is too early to say how the closure of the design studio will affect moving plans, which are still in the early stages. Last year, Hollingsworth said The Tennesseean would need room for 291 employees wherever it finds a new home. The Nashville Design Studio has handled design and page editing for various Gannett publications in Tennessee and around the country. Gannett owns a number of newspapers in Tennessee in addition to The Tennesseean. They include the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Jackson Sun, the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro and the Leaf Chronicle in Clarksville,…

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Gannett’s ‘Tennessean’ Shrinks As The Tennessee Star Grows

Tennessee Star

  Gannett News, the far left mainstream media giant based in Tysons Corner, Virginia, announced drastic cuts in its staff in all its major Tennessee publications on Tuesday, including The Tennessean and The Daily News Journal here in Middle Tennessee. “Today we underwent and completed a reduction in personnel in our news division in several of our Tennessee markets, as part of a transformative strategy for the USA TODAY NETWORK–Tennessee,” Tennessean publisher Laura Hollingworth wrote in an email to employees of Gannett’s Tennessee operations, the Nashville Scene reported. “We recognize that this has been a tough day, and we respect and appreciate the work of all our colleagues, especially those who have been impacted by these actions — through no fault of their own,” Hollingsworth said in her email. “A year after acquiring the Commercial Appeal and Knoxville News-Sentinel, Gannett made sizable cuts today in both of those newsrooms, in addition to laying off three reporters locally,” the Scene reported: In Memphis, sources tell the Scene that 17 staff members were eliminated in the newsroom, including seven digital producers, two photographers, two reporters, one clerk and five editors. In Knoxville, 11 were eliminated from the newsroom, including four managers. The…

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