First Quarter 2012 Hirings, Firings, Layoffs, Resignations By The Numbers

There have been a couple of big announcements so far in the first couple of weeks of the New Year.  As the economy is still in a lull some employers are still finding ways to cut back and others are launching new products and creating jobs.

For 2011 coverage check out our First, Second, Third and Fourth Quarter reports.

Mass Layoff Reports

Source: BLS

Hiring

A lot of planned hiring is being announced in the automotive sector.

Chrysler LLC – The company is restarting its production on the new SRT Viper and boosting production of other vehicles and will hire 1,250 workers in Metro Detroit.

Chrysler is also announcing that sometime in 2013 it will start building its new Maserati SUV in Metro Detroit.

BMW North America – The company announced it will expand its South Carolina facility and add up to 300 new jobs.

Hyundai – Announced that it will add up to 50 jobs over the next 3 years at its Technical Center in Michigan as it invests $15 million in upgrades.

Volkswagen North America – Adding 800 more jobs to its facility in Chattanooga TN and a total increase of 1,000 new jobs for 2012 at that plant.

There hasn’t been massive hiring announcements but you can check out our live Twitter stream for job postings.

Hiring Freezes

Notable Layoffs 

Boeing Company – The company is will eliminate 2,160 jobs as it closes its Wichita plant.

Hostess Brands – The company is rumored to be preparing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and job losses are sure to follow.

Eastman Kodak – While no layoffs have been officially announced the type of restructuring that the company needs to go through imply that many heads will roll in this bankruptcy.

FYE – Stores across the country are closing while the parent company Trans World Entertainment has remained mum about the closings, and has little information in press releases.  It is likely that a prior announcement that it planned to expand in 2012 and 2013 is on hold.

Wayne County Airport – The county is looking to layoff 90 employees in an effort to save about $6 million over 20 months.

Game Show Network – The entertainment group is laying off 5% of its staff of about 12 people.

MI Blockbuster Store Closing 2012

Blockbuster – The company is still making efforts to reduce its store count in 2012 to get to a target of 600 stores.  Above is one of two stores that are closing in Livonia Michigan.

Texas Instruments – The company is closing two factories one in Japan and one in Texas with 500 workers to cut costs.

Morgan Stanley – Will cut 1,600 jobs this quarter which is a little more than 2% of its workforce.

Novartis – The health care company is going to cut 1,960 jobs in the United States this year in an effort to save $450 million a year.

Saab North America – With the Swedish car company clinging to life the North American arm will liquidate.  Located in Royal Oak Michigan Saab’s parent company Spyker moved the company Headquarters to Royal Oak and gained favorable tax credits of $1.2 million to keep 60 employees in Michigan.  Now 80% of those employees are gone with the rest to be unemployed soon.

Dean Foods -Scaling back its headquarters significantly.

Abbott Labs – Is cutting 700 workers.

J.C. Penney – Thousands of jobs will be eliminated as the company is restructuring as a result of its new leadership.  All stores will be affected and no number has been officially announced.

UPS – Cutting jobs in Texas of 135 jobs. UPS will also eliminate 433 jobs in its Kentucky facility.

American Airlines – A few weeks into bankruptcy the company is announcing that it will cut at least 13,000 jobs.

Fisker Automotive – One of the green energy focused companies that took Federal Government money is announcing layoffs of 40 contractors and 26 employees.

Sears Holdings Corporation – 100 employees were laid off from the Illinois headquarters.

Abercrombie & Fitch – The company is going to cut another 130 stores.

Lightsquared – As a cost saving measure the company is moving to cut 45% of its 330 person workforce.

Proctor and Gamble – One of the worlds biggest companies announced through June of 2013 it will cut 5,700 jobs the cuts are a move to save the company $800 million before taxes.

General Motors – The company is blaming the media and reports that its Chevy Volt is not safe for cutting into demand for its not so great selling $40,000 electric vehicle.  As a result it is laying off 1,300 workers in Michigan and suspending production for at least 5 weeks. It may also extend the summer shutdown as well.

United States Air Force – President Obama’s proposed budget calls for 9,900 job cuts.  Of these jobs 850 will take place in Michigan.

Hasbro – The second largest toy maker in the United States is cutting 140 jobs in the United States which is where 88 percent of its job cuts are focused.

AOL – The company left only it’s AIM support staff around and laid off the rest of the products team.  The move left 40 workers without jobs.

Ford Motor Company – The company was able to get 1,700 workers to take the up on buyout packages.

OWN – Oprah laid off 30 people from her network.  It isn’t the first time that she’s cut workers.  She do when she ended her program in the second quarter of last year.  She famously triggered an Illinois mass layoff event in the state.

Bank of America – One of the TARP bailout fund recipients is having another round of job cuts.  This time in research jobs, the number has not been announced yet.

USPS – Through a series of reductions in the postal processing centers 475 jobs were eliminated.

THQ – Video game publisher is eliminating 118 people and has made cuts to its new Warhammer video game.

SecondMarket – Announced that about 10% of the company would be laid off as Facebook’s stock will no longer trade on its network as it prepares to IPO.

Best Buy – As the electronics retail giant has finally started to face pressure from the internet from the likes of Amazon and Newegg the company announced poor performance days before the start of the second quarter.  The company is going to close 50 stores and focus on the smaller Best Buy Mobile outlets that are similar to Radio Shacks.  Cuts of 400 corporate jobs and a savings of $800 million are expected.

Resignations 

Google –  James Whittaker made a super public rant about quitting the company.

Goldman Sachs -The same week as the big Google resignation Greg Smith posted an op-ed about how terrible Goldman Sachs is.

TiVo – Co-Founder of the company Jim Barton resigned to pursue other interests and landed a golden parachute consulting gig with TiVo for $25,000 a month for 3 years.

Firing

Research in Motion (RIMM) – Replaced both of its CEO’s Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis with one person.