Body Count: 2,300 Mass Layoffs & 224,000 jobs in Nov. (full list)

[Omaha Steve]

http://economy.kansascity.com/?q=node/591

U.S. employers in November let more than 224,000 workers go in more than 2,300 mass layoff actions.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said today that mass layoffs - those affecting at least 50 workers at a single work site - have been rising on a fairly steady basis since the recession began.

Since December 2007, the bureau has charted 20,712 mass layoff events, which caused more than 2.1 million new claims for unemployment benefits to be filed.

All of which provides a segue into our weekly installment of Body Count. Here's the running list of major layoffs announcements so far this month. Compared to last week's whoppers, this week wasn't so bad.

Week of Dec. 15-19
Omnicom – 3,000
Western Digital – 2,500
Cooper Tire – 1,400
Aetna – 1,000
Bristol-Myers Squibb – 800
Sirius XM Radio – 458
Las Vegas Sands – 200

Week of Dec. 8-12
Bank of America: 35,000
Rio Tinto: 14,000
Sony Corp.: 8,000
Dow Chemical: 5,000
Anheuser-Busch InBev: 1,400
National Public Radio: 85

Week of Dec. 1-5
AT&T: 12,000
JP Morgan/Washington Mutual: 9,200
DuPont: 2,500
General Motors: 2,000
State Street: 1,600 to 1,800
Viacom: 850
Sanofi-Aventis: 650

[glowing]

1. Then think of all the small businesses or part-time people that don't get

counted on the big company tally sheet.

[bluestateguy]

2. Obama should make patriotic appeals to these companies to cool it with the layoffs

and publicly denounce companies that lay off workers.