Another Round of HP Layoffs

geekroot's dad writes "AP News is reporting that Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard is 'fighting to stay competitive with formidable rivals like IBM and Dell' and is announcing 5,900 European job cuts "to safeguard the future" of the company. From the article: 'Michel Destot, the Socialist deputy mayor of the southern France city of Grenoble - where HP has one of its French plants - said the layoffs were "unacceptable" and demanded that HP managers also meet local politicians to discuss scaling back the job cuts.'" This round following the first cut back in July.

Comments

Ten percent unemployment?

[tcopeland]

Jeepers... that seems high.

On the other hand, there doesn't seem to be much reliable data available for most of the globe if this image is any guide.

Re:Ten percent unemployment?

[Doc Ruby]

The US "unemployment" numbers we're used to seeing are fiction. They've been cooked so many ways for so long that they now are a measure only of how many people the government wants to admit are willing to ask it for help this week. Which is why it's around 5-7% when it's reported. The real number that you're looking for is "employment market participation rate", or the percentage of people who can work (minus retired, disabled, children and a few prohibited others). That's currently around 65%, or 35% not participating. Realize that the people in addition to the 100% are the "prohibited" people I mentioned, all of whom still have to eat, who need someone's income to support them.

Re:I wish the mayor of Grenoble all the best.

[winkydink]

You don't need his permission, but based on the tenure of your employees, it can cost you as much as 18 months salary per person in severance to simply cut your losses and leave without negotiating.

Re:Business and Government

[matu4251]

unemployment in France is around 10%... get your facts straight.

Re:French labor laws...

[EnderWiggnz]

employees do well in france. even if their laid off, companies pay a large penalty to their UE insurance, plus corporations dont get to threaten health and survival, as the social safety net is much stronger than the US's, as they have socialized medicine, and good UE benefits.

As a worker, I would love to have France's labor laws working for me.

NCR isnt the white night you knew in the 50's

[sethstorm]

You probably dont know of the recent history of the company from which he left. Search for "NCR Corp" "Healthcare" "cuts". That should give you a starting point on what they've recently become, and what you might see from Hurd.

Part of worldwide job cuts announced in July.

[blueturffan]

"Another Round of HP Layoffs"

"This round following the first cut back in July."

Let's have some perspective here. This is not a new round of layoffs.

This article http://biz.yahoo.com/bizj/050912/1163171.html?.v=1 clarifies that these 5900 European job cuts are part of the 14,500 worldwide job cuts announced in July.

Re:French labor laws...

[Ingolfke]

RTFA. "The local consultation processes are still ongoing," Nachbar said. She confirmed that the 5,900 European layoffs are part of a plan announced in July to cut 14,500

These cuts are are part of the 14.5k announced earlier.

Re:true rate of unemployment

[mc6809e]

The government does not count people if they are past the time for receiving unemployment checks. they become non persons and are not counted


Won't this myth die once and for all?

The government does not calculate the unemployment rate on how many people are collecting unemployment checks. Get that straight. Collecting unemployment HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CALCULATING THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE.

The unemployment rate is determined by a survey of about 60,000 people.