After the losses detailed here it is interesting to see what
employers need most of all - help to keep their skilled workforce
together (the Germans have such a scheme) . The Unions concentrate
more on alleviating the suffering rather than stopping the
redundancies in the first place. [That's not a criticism, merely an
observation]
However, in a separate posting I report that finally after months of
delay the government has taken up the Tory plan for Loan guarantees.
Allelujah for that at least!
Elsewhere the Euro's troubles begin to mount with Spain, Greece and
Ireland marked out as the initial flashpoints [see postings from
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard passim], ALL three have received warnings
from ratings agency Standard & Poor's.
xxxxxxxxxxxx cs
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TELEGRAPH 13.1.09
Latest job losses: thousands of redundancies announced [shortened]
More than two thousand fresh redundancies have been announced as the
Prime Minister hosted a jobs summit aimed at helping the growing army
of unemployed.
Gordon Brown pledged that people thrown out of work would not be
"abandoned" by the Government.
(--------------)
But the relentless toll of redundancies, which is cutting deeper into
British industry by the day, continued with almost 700 job cuts at
heavy machinery giant JCB, almost 1,000 at logistics firm Wincanton
and almost 400 at troubled china and crystal maker Waterford Wedgwood.
A further 420 jobs were under threat at Findus frozen food firm
Newcastle Productions after the firm went into administration, while
there were fears for the future of 1,000 jobs at furniture retailer
Land of Leather after the company suspended its shares.
Hull-based Honda dealership deVries, which employs 130 workers, said
it had appointed receivers after being hit by a fall in sales.
Meanwhile, leading auction house Christie's, which employs 2,100
staff around the world, announced a reorganisation expected to lead
to job cuts.
The scale of the cuts, with waves of job losses being announced on an
almost daily basis, make it certain that unemployment will soon pass
the politically sensitive two million mark.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of JCB, said he would rather see the
Government spend money on trying to stop workers losing their jobs in
the first place.
"We are making some very good employees redundant and that hurts."
He contrasted the position in JCB's German factory, where employees
are on a two-day week, with the Government making up wages to avoid
any lay-offs.
(--------------)
Mr Brown said anyone losing their job will be able to access help and
support on the first day.
But Mr Brown faced a series of questions from union and business
leaders about what should be done to tackle growing unemployment.
Tony Burke, assistant general secretary of Unite, said the level of
redundancy pay should be increased to help those losing their jobs
and added that it should be easier to gain access to training funds.
Dave Prints, leader of Unison, called on the Prime Minister to halt
job losses in the public sector and expand apprenticeships in areas
such as local government, where he warned of fresh redundancies being
planned.
John Wright, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said 86
small firms were going out of business every day, highlighting the
urgent need for extra help such as reductions in regulations and cuts
in payroll taxes.
The Engineering Employers' Federation said even though the proposals
were laudable, they were "missing the mark".
Chief economist Steve Radley said: "The main priority for
manufacturers is to keep the skilled workforce they already have and
maintain cash flow."
Paul Kenny, leader of the GMB union, said: "Summits such as this will
do nothing unless the Government can tackle the fundamental issue
which everyone here is talking about - that the banks have to be
brought to book.
"They are holding money back and are squeezing businesses badly.
"Banks are the biggest threat and I fear an implosion of job losses
unless the Government can take action."
Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling said the latest job
losses were a "further worrying sign" that the Government's policies
on the recession were not working.
Supermarket giant Morrisons lifted some of the gloom by unveiling
plans to hire 5,000 new staff through its previously announced store
expansion programme this year.
Mr Brown will hold talks on the European response to the economic
downturn with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Wednesday,
before travelling to Berlin to speak to German Chancellor Angela
Merkel on Thursday.
His visit to Berlin comes as Ms Merkel attempts to push through a
large-scale fiscal stimulus package of investment and tax cuts to
help the German economy through the recession.
==========================
WALL STREET JOURNAL 12.1.09 (8.52pm EST)
The Euro Feels the Pain in Spain
1By MATTHEW CURTIN and THOROLD BARKER
In the first stage of the global financial crisis, euro membership
provided stability. Individual currencies didn't face the gut-
wrenching swings experienced by the likes of the British pound. Being
part of the single currency also helped keep government borrowing
rates low for weaker countries, even as their bond spreads against
German bunds widened.
But as the crisis progresses, that security blanket risks choking the
countries it once protected. A warning from Standard & Poor's that it
may downgrade Spain's sovereign debt, days after a similar alert on
Greece, is a sharp reminder of how serious economic tensions within
the currency zone could become. Admittedly, Spain only became a
triple-A credit in 2004. But the euro still hit a four-week low
against the dollar and yen on S&P's announcement.
As the global crisis has spread, even Germany has embarked on a ?50
billion stimulus package. But it is the weaker countries of the
currency area that pose the real challenge. Take Spain. Nearly a
million workers lost their jobs in the 12 months to November, taking
the unemployment rate to 13%. Industrial production fell 15%. The
debt-fueled fiesta that caused a huge property bubble -- worsened by
artificially low euro-zone interest rates -- has become a nasty
hangover. The country's current-account deficit is set to hit 10% in
2008.
The euro deprives struggling individual economies of the short-term
relief from a weaker currency and the ability to set their own
interest rates. That leaves more painful alternatives, such as big
falls in real wages in countries like Spain, or relying on Germany to
help finance a regional economic bailout -- both of which would pose
huge political challenges.
Italy and Portugal are other countries that investors are cautious
of. Their 10-year government bonds trade at spreads to German bunds
of 1.37 percentage points and 1.06 percentage points respectively.
In other currency areas, there could be heavy borrowing by a
centralized agency, like the U.S. government, and fiscal transfers
between regions. The euro zone has no such mechanisms. Instead,
countries such as Spain will spend their way through the downturn as
best they can, while dealing with the inevitable adjustments to their
economies.
The predicament of certain members of the euro zone in a prolonged
recession could reignite fears over the stability of the project
itself. Shorter-term, severe weakness in some smaller countries,
coupled with a sharp slowdown in Germany, is likely to put more
pressure on the European Central Bank to use the big lever it
controls: interest rates for the entire euro zone.
Individual countries can't devalue. But more aggressive cuts from the
ECB, as inflation threats wane, could well mean a weaker euro for all
in 2009
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