The number of people signing up for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level in two months, an encouraging sign that companies aren’t resorting to deeper layoffs even as the economy has lost momentum.
Filed under: Layoffs
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Sep. 8, 2010 at 2:43 p.m.
Filed under: Autos, Construction, Earnings, Jobs/employment, Labor, Layoffs, Manufacturing, Updated Navistar confirms that it will move HQ to Lisle
Navistar representatives, along with roughly a dozen Illinois officials, announced plans this morning to move the manufacturing company’s headquarters to Lisle, retaining thousands of jobs in DuPage County.
“I’ve got one thing to say. Illinois is Navistar country,” said Gov Pat Quinn. “We believe in Navistar.”
Navistar President Dan Ustian added that the project would create about 500 engineering jobs right away. Get the full story »
More than 1,100 in Illinois warned of layoffs in Aug.
National Manufacturing Co., PNC Bank, Precision Dormer LLC and Northwestern Memorial Hospital are among about a dozen companies that notified the state of Illinois in August that they plan to close plants or institute “mass layoffs,” putting a total of more than 1,100 employees out of work. Get the full story »
Sep. 7, 2010 at 5:46 p.m.
Filed under: Airplanes, Defense, Jobs/employment, Layoffs, Management, Personnel moves, Updated Boeing slims down military aircraft business
Boeing Co. is slimming down its military aircraft business and cutting workers as the U.S. tightens defense spending and profit margins shrink.
Boeing’s military division makes the well-known Chinook transport helicopters, as well as the C-17 transport and the F/A-18 fighter-bomber.
The job cuts will start with 10 percent of the group’s executives. Boeing didn’t say how many more workers will lose jobs. It will consolidate six divisions of the business into four. Get the full story »
Illinois employment could improve later this year
Employment in Illinois may accelerate in the last quarter of the year, according to one survey by a California-based staffing firm.
A report released Thursday by Robert Half International said a net 12 percent of Illinois executives expect to hire more employees in the fourth quarter, an increase of 11 percentage points over sentiment measured in the third quarter. The company’s survey showed 19 percent of executives planned to staff up, while 7 percent were expecting to cut staff. Subtracting the 7 percent from the 19 percent generated the net 12 percent figure.
The Illinois figure reflects rosier sentiment in the state than nationally. Robert Half’s broad survey indicated that a net 6 percent of executives plan to increase hiring in the fourth quarter, up three percentage points from the third quarter. Get the full story »
CEO layoff leaders had highest in pay in ‘09
As U.S. companies shed millions of workers during the recession, the CEOs who laid off the most people brought home pay that was significantly higher than that of their peers, according to a Washington, D.C. think tank study.
The CEOs of the 50 U.S. companies that laid off the most workers between November 2008 and April 2010 were paid $12 million on average in 2009, or 42 percent more than the average across the Standard & Poor’s 500, the Institute for Policy Studies study said. Get the full story »
ShoreBank’s buyer lays off 60 employees
An exterior view of ShoreBank at 3401 S. King Drive on the South Side, May 18, 2010. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)
The company that bought ShoreBank has cut about 60 of the more than 300 positions at the recently failed South Side lender.
Urban Partnership Bank, the newly formed group that on Aug. 20 acquired ShoreBank through a deal brokered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said the job cuts were “a difficult decision.”
But “a smaller workforce is needed going forward in order for Urban Partnership Bank to continue the mission and to be a strong, sustainable player in our communities,” said Brian Berg, spokesman for Urban Partnership Bank. Get the full story »
New weekly jobless claims fall sharply
New requests for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week after rising in the past three weeks. Still, claims remain much higher than they would be in a healthy economy.
The Labor Department says new claims for jobless aid dropped by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 473,000. Wall Street economists had expected a smaller drop, according to surveys by Thomson Reuters. Get the full story »
Jewish leaders pledge support for Hyatt boycott
With support from hundreds of Jewish leaders, Chicago Hyatt workers are calling for a boycott of “one or more” Hyatt hotels in the Chicago area, according to Unite Here, the hotel workers’ union.
The properties will join seven other boycotts announced by the union at Hyatt properties. The union would not say which hotels are planned for the boycott, which is scheduled to be announced Tuesday afternoon in front of Hyatt Global Headquarters. Get the full story »
Construction strike skews Illinois jobless numbers
Illinois lost 20,200 jobs in July, but the numbers look worse than they are because of last month’s construction strike that shut down projects across the state.
The 19-day work stoppage ended around July 20 but not before the Illinois Department of Employment Security took its survey of the labor force. Get the full story »
Walgreens to outsource 150 accounting jobs
Walgreen Co.’s headquarters expects to outsource as many as 150 accounting jobs by mid-2011 to India’s Genpact, which recently acquired Walgreens’ 500-employee accounting office in Danville. Get the full story >>
Brinks Hofer lays off 18 more staffers
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione laid off 18 people Tuesday, including seven lawyers, its second round of cutbacks in eight months.
Fifteen of the 18 were based in the home office in Chicago, said Gary Ropski, president of the firm that specializes in intellectual property law. The layoffs affected 4.5 percent of the firm’s workforce of about 400. Get the full story »
Bob Evans Farms to close Illinois plant
Bob Evans Farms Inc. says it will immediately close a food production plant in the west-central Illinois city of Galva.
The Columbus, Ohio-company on Monday said the reasons were excess capacity and diminishing live sow market supply. The company says the closure affects about 70 employees. But some of those employees could have the chance to transfer jobs within Bob Evans Farms Inc. Get the full story »
Navistar could lay off 370 in Ohio
Navistar International filed a WARN notice anticipating mass layoffs in Springfield, Ohio as its master contract with the United Auto Workers is set to expire. The WARN notice filed Monday, Aug. 2, with Ohio Department of Job and Family Services states up to 370 workers may be laid off on or about Oct. 4.
