Following four months of little change, employment increased by 82,000 in March, mostly in full-time work. This brought the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 7.2%. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment was up 1.1% or 197,000. Almost all of this growth was in full-time employment, up 181,000 (+1.3%), while part-time employment edged up. The total number of hours worked rose 1.6% over the same period. … Continue reading
Businesses added more than 200,000 jobs in March, giving fresh evidence of recovery in the labor market, data showed on Wednesday. The ADP National Employment Report showed the private sector added 209,000 positions last month, slightly above economists’ expectations for a gain of 200,000 jobs. Analysts said it did not change their forecasts for the … Continue reading
Google Offers and Banana Republic are the first businesses to join Starbucks Corp in raising money for a U.S. job creation fund started by the world’s biggest coffee chain late last year. Starbucks and the Opportunity Finance Network, a group of private financial institutions that make affordable loans to individuals and communities, introduced the “Create … Continue reading
Hiring is back in a big way on many college campuses, one of several signs a recovery in the U.S. jobs market is gaining traction. After four years during which many students graduated to find no job and had only their loans to show for their studies, most college campuses are teeming with companies eager … Continue reading
Yahoo Inc will begin layoffs of thousands of employees next week and will announce a plan to restructure the company the week after that, according to a media report. Yahoo declined to comment. The layoffs, which will not take place all at once, will mostly affect Yahoo’s product, research and marketing groups, according to the … Continue reading
Nokia (NOK1V.HE) finished on Thursday job cut talks with the staff at its plant in Salo, Finland, resulting in planned lay-offs of up to 1,000 people. The jobs at the last large cellphone manufacturing plant in Western Europe will be cut gradually through 2012, with most cuts happening by the end of June, the company … Continue reading
Britain’s biggest construction company Balfour Beatty (BALF.L: Quote) has warned all its 12,000 staff in the UK that their jobs are at risk, the construction industry magazine Building reported on Wednesday. Read More @ Balfour Beatty warns 12,000 jobs at risk: report | Business | Reuters.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday offered a tempered view of the U.S. economy, pouring cold water on the notion that recent upbeat signs herald a stronger recovery. Bernanke told Congress that unless growth accelerated, the unacceptably high U.S. unemployment rate would not keep dropping. But he stopped short of signaling further Fed bond … Continue reading
The economy grew slightly faster than initially thought in the fourth quarter and a gauge of factory activity in the Midwest hit a 10 month-high in February, pointing to underlying strength in the economy. Gross domestic product expanded at a 3 percent annual rate, the quickest pace since the second quarter of 2010, the Commerce … Continue reading
SunOpta Inc said it will restructure some of its underperforming segments and cut about 6 percent of its workforce. The Toronto-based organic food processor said it will shut down its fruit segment and create a new consumer products group to focus on non-grains based consumer packaged goods. SunOpta expects to incur severance costs of about … Continue reading
German drugs and chemicals group Merck KGaA announced plans on Friday for a cost-cutting programme across all its businesses that may include job cuts. “Over the next two years Merck needs to address unprecedented market shifts, increasing competition in key product areas and existing inefficiencies in its own organization to ensure the long-term success of … Continue reading
The scars of Greece’s debt crisis were laid bare in heavy losses from a string of European banks on Thursday, and bosses warned the region’s precarious finances would continue to threaten economic growth and earnings. From France to Germany, Britain to Belgium, four of the region’s biggest banks lined up to reveal they lost more … Continue reading
Procter & Gamble Co plans to cut a total of 5,700 nonmanufacturing jobs as part of a new plan to reduce costs by $10 billion by the end of fiscal 2016, Chief Executive Officer Bob McDonald said on Thursday. The world’s largest household products company has about 57,000 non-manufacturing employees among its total workforce of … Continue reading
The euro zone’s service sector shrank unexpectedly this month, reviving fears that the economy risks sinking into recession, a business survey showed on Wednesday. Markit’s Eurozone Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 49.4 from January’s 50.4, missing even the lowest forecast in a Reuters poll of 44 economists whose predictions centred on a rise … Continue reading
The Greek economy will only return to growth in 2014 after a four-year recession that will shrink output by 17 percent, EU officials said on Tuesday, warning Athens it needs to cut wages further to bring its public debt to manageable levels. Speaking hours after euro zone finance ministers agreed a 130 billion euro ($172 … Continue reading