This post by Robert Oak appeared Aug. 18, 2010 on economicpopulist.org
Daily Finance has compiled a list, from Challenger and Gray layoff data, of the top 25 companies with the biggest job losses this recession.
From The Layoff Kings: The 25 Companies Responsible for 700,000 Lost Jobs author Douglas McIntyre, compiled the list below. I’ve added whether or not that company is known for offshore outsourcing jobs. The actual jobs offshore outsourced is unknown, if some ambitious researcher wishes to correlate layoffs with jobs created offshore, or offshore outsourcing contracts written, we’d appreciate the specifics. From the list we have, these top companies, the number of layoffs and whether or not they are an offshore outsourcer.
- General Motors, 107,357, outsourcer
- Citigroup, 73,056 , outsourcer
- Hewlett-Packard, 47,540, outsourcer
- Circuit City Stores, 41,495
- Merrill Lynch, 40,650, outsourcer (BoA)
- Verizon Wireless, 39,000, outsourcer
- Pfizer, 31,771, outsourcer
- Merck & Co., 24,400, outsourcer
- Lehman Brothers, 23,340
- Caterpillar, 23,024, outsourcer
- JP Morgan Chase, 22,852, outsourcer
- Starbucks, 21,316
- AT&T, 18,401, outsourcer
- Alcoa, 17,655, outsourcer
- Dow Chemical, 17,530, outsourcer
- DuPont, 17,000, outsourcer
- Berkshire Hathaway, 16,900, unknown
- Ford Motor, 15,912, outsourcer
- KB Toys, 15,100
- United States Postal Service, 15,000
- DHL Express USA, 14,900
- Sprint Nextel, 14,500, outsourcer
- Sun Microsystems, 14,000, outsourcer
- Boeing, 13,715, outsourcer
- Chrysler, 13,672, outsourcer
As you can see, there are many Tech companies on the list, when supposedly the recession was about finance and real estate. Some of these companies have reported record profits, most are reasonably healthy.
Caterpillar literally demanded U.S. taxpayer dollars, in the form of Stimulus, all the while firing Americans and offshore outsourcing jobs.
So, while the blame continues to focus on the housing market and financial Armageddon, it appears we have the same issues that were the cause of the 2001 recession, global labor arbitrage with corporations offshore outsourcing, moving manufacturing abroad as well as the profits.