Total Job Losses in USA 2008

The government reported that nearly 2 million jobs have been lost in 2008 till November end. In total, it reported job cuts of 1.9 million for 2008, through November.Those losses exceed the 1.5 million job cuts that occurred in a 12-month span from 1990 to 1991, according to information from David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's.

On Friday, the Labor Department said that employers hemorrhaged 533,000 jobs in November, the largest monthly loss since December 1974.

The annual unemployment rate also increased to 6.7% in November, from 6.5% the prior month. In 1982, the rate was nearly 11%. Hence it is certainly the worst recession since 1982.

The total layoffs announced in the first week of December: 33,914.

Source:
money.cnn.com/2008/12/04/news/companies/ATNT/

11th December 2008

Bank of America said that it planned to cut 30,000 to 35,000 positions — among the largest layoffs ever — over the next three years as it digests its acquisition of Merrill Lynch. That could amount to more than 11 percent of the combined firms’ global work force of 308,000.

As of last week, banks have cut 186,439 jobs since the onset of the financial crisis in July 2007, according to data from Bloomberg News.

James Dimon, CEO of Bank of Americal said that housing prices could fall another 20 percent.

The New York City comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., raised his estimates of Wall Street job losses over the next two years to 170,000.

Source
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/business/12bank.html