Are layoffs raising? Reports say 9,000 job vanishing each day

More and more people are becoming unemployed this year, with nearly 9,000 jobs vanishing worldwide on an average each day in January.

As the financial turmoil continues to rattle world economies, layoffs so far this year have crossed the 2,77,000 -mark with a stunning 80,000 job cuts announced January 26.

Right from electronics to telecom to pharma sectors, about 9,000 jobs were lost on an average every day this month.

Among the entities, construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar, Japanese electronics major NEC and pharma giant Pfizer have announced over 20,000 job cuts each.

Dutch entities - electronics firm Philips and financial services company ING - together would be axing 13,000 jobs in the coming months.

Caterpillar, Pfizer, telecom firm Sprint Nextel Corp and home improvement retailer Home Depot together accounted for 61,000 lay-off announcements on January 26. The total job cuts announced on that day worldwide had crossed 80,000.

The bankruptcy of American electronics retailer Circuit City is expected to affect 30,000 employees whereas aluminium manufacturer Alcoa would be laying off 13,500 people.

Further, Indian conglomerate Tatas-owned UK steel maker Corus would be reducing its workforce by 3,500.

Other entities which unveiled plans to bring down headcount in January include TDK (8,000), BHP Billiton (6,000), Ericsson (5,000), Corning (4,900), Motorola (4,000), Texas Instruments (3,400), Honda (3,100), Kodak (3,000), Ford Motor (1,200) and Harley-Davidson (1,100).

Companies worldwide are bringing down their workforce as they explore ways to battle the dire economic situation. With consumer and business spending being crimped, many of the developed nations have already entered into recession.

Agencies