The Layoff Kings of 2008

1. Citigroup announced layoffs of just over 73,000.
2. The Bank of America buyout of Merrill Lynch will cost 35,000 people their jobs.
3. General Motors has said that its cuts for this year add up to almost 34,000 people.
4. Hewlett-Packard bought IT consulting firm EDS earlier this year and slashed 25,000people.
5. Lehman Brothers simply does not exist anymore. In September, the company filed for Chapter 11. Some of the people in divisions bought by other companies or kept open waiting for buyers may be OK, but more than 23,000 poor souls were shoved out of work.
6. AT&T cut more than 17,000 for the year.
7. DHL Express cut almost 15,000 people.
8. The California Department of Education shows that the public sector is not being sparred. 14,000 teachers will be out of work. If governor Schwarzenegger cannot get California’s books balanced, the state will be letting a lot more people go.
9. Starbucks closed over 600 stores and fired more than 12,000 people. The job cuts there are not over.
10. Chrysler let go over 12,000 people.
11. Citigroup cut more than 11,000 jobs.
12. Dow Chemical is closing 20 plants and laying off 5,000 workers and 6,000 contractors.
13. NASA is cutting nearly 11,000 jobs.
14. The State of California cut more than 10,000 people.
15. Sun Microsystems cut 9,500 jobs.
16. Bennigan’s filed for Chapter 7 in July. The restaurant company’s 150 company-owned stores shut down. Over 9,000 people lost jobs.
17. JP Morgan Chase bought Washington Mutual. JPM raised $10 billion to cover the costs of the transaction. It will get part of that money back by cutting over 9,000 people.
18. Bear Stearns simply disappeared in March after being in business for 85 years. More than 9,000 people were forced out of work.
19. American Airlines cut 8,500 jobs as a result of the high fuel costs slashing their number of flights.
20. Merck cut more than 8,000 jobs.
It is hard to believe that just 20 companies have cut over 400,000 people in less than a year, but it is only the tip of the iceberg.