Tens of thousands of job cuts announced by front-line companies in a 24-hour period are a warning sign for the global recovery, anticipating two key reports that are projected to show limited progress in the US job market. United States United States
Said Tuesday night that it will cut 28,000 workers at its resort business in the United States. In the hours that followed, the pace of job cuts accelerated at some of the world’s largest companies, in a variety of industries, from energy to finance.
On Wednesday, Allstate Corp., America’s fourth-largest auto insurer, said it will cut 3,800 jobs, about 8% of its workforce. And Bloomberg reported that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plans to cut roughly 400 jobs after temporarily suspending job cuts at the start of the crisis.
Announcements like these point to new challenges in a rally that has already slowed down after an initial rally in May and June. Weekly figures to be released on Thursday are estimated to show that US jobless claims remain well above pre-virus levels, while Friday’s jobs report is expected, the latest before the election. May the November presidential elections reveal that employers added half a million fewer workers in September than in August.
Brett Ryan, senior economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in the US larger companies that may have been on a certain income trajectory before the recession begins to reassess itself. “
Office Workers
Read More: The Next Wave of US Job Cuts Targets Millions of Higher Paid Workers
While Shell did not provide a full breakdown of the cuts, a spokesperson said that the positions in the top three layers of the company would be cut by a fifth.
“In many places, we have too many tiers in the company, too many tiers between myself, as CEO, and the operators and technicians at our locations,” said oil company director Ben van Beurden.
The defeat in the oil sector has been so swift and severe that once sacrosanct corporate positions are being cut. Exxon Mobil Corp., which has long prided itself on weathering crude oil market downturns without resorting to job cuts, surprised investors and analysts in recent months when it noted layoffs of up to 10% of office staff. . . United States
At Disney, the layoffs affect domestic employees at its theme parks, cruise lines and retail businesses. While two-thirds of workers are part-time, the cuts also involve executives and salaried employees, the company said.
Halliburton Co., the world’s largest fracker, is shedding an entire layer of management, while Marathon Petroleum Corp., America’s largest independent crude refinery, has embarked on its second round of job cuts. . . . It will affect about 2,050 employees and duty stations at plants in Texas, California and Louisiana.
With the pandemic still raging and US lawmakers who have so far failed to extend federal aid to the unemployed and small businesses, many key measures in the world’s largest economy appear destined to remain weak for some time.
There were indications early Wednesday that the prospect may have helped fuel stimulus negotiations, but Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi failed to reach an agreement during a meeting. 90 minutes on Wednesday and said they will continue negotiating.
American Airlines Group Inc. has warned it could lay off 19,000 employees, while United Airlines Holdings Inc. plans to cut about 12,000.
However, there are signs that the job market is gradually improving in certain areas as demand increases from the depths of the pandemic. US companies created 749,000 jobs in September, according to ADP Research Institute data released Wednesday. However, ADP’s figures have differed greatly from official government figures in recent months.
Signs that the economy is recovering influenced Allstate’s decision to announce its job cuts on Wednesday. The insurer postponed the layoffs at the start of the pandemic.
“We waited a bit until we could see that the economy was beginning to recover,” Chief Executive Tom Wilson said in a telephone interview. “We could have done this before, but we waited a bit to align ourselves and build a set of programs that help people get new jobs.”
