Job cuts on the rise as world indexes fall

As redundancies grow in the UK and US, who will be waiting to snap up the legions of skilled workers trying to re-enter the market?

Everyone knows a bargain when they see one.

How long to wait and where the best deals are to be had are the questions.

In terms of opportunity in the latter part of 2008 look no further than the jobs market. Firms may be laying off dead wood, but there is a growing wealth of professional talent being cast aside too.

Redundancies represent huge opportunities for the liquid investors as skilled workers across all levels of industry look for fast re-employment.

So where are the confident backers to sweep in and realise these devalued assets?

Stockmarkets remained wary on Thursday as fears about the US, UK and Chinese economies grew.
Japan's Nikkei index closed down 5.25 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 5.15 percent, while London traders responded to news that Germany has followed Ireland into recession. The FTSE 100 dropped 12.81 points to 4169.21, its third successive day of decline and its worst close since October 28.

There was more bad news as UK analysts predicted the jobless figure could climb to three million by 2010.

The gloomy predictions followed news that British companies were this week looking to shed 17,000 jobs.

BT announced that it was axing 10,000 staff from its global workforce, a six per cent reduction.

The company said it was looking to cut costs in the global economic downturn after announcing an 11 per cent fall in second quarter profits.

The redundancies announcement at the telecoms group followed 2,200 at Virgin Media, the cable TV operator; almost 400 at JCB, the construction equipment firm, 1,000 at Taylor Wimpey, 1,300 at Yell and 620 at GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceutical group, and almost 250 at Leyland.

Losses of this scale have not been seen since the early 1980s and 1990s.

Redundancies in the UK building industry have risen to more than 71,000 on last year.

Yearly figures from the Office for National Statistics since October 2007 show that redundancies are rising rapidly.

More than 31,000 jobs were lost between July and September, compared with 13,000 in the second quarter.

UK unemployment has now reached its highest point since 1997.

At the close of September there were 1.825 million people out of work.

The claimant count also rose to 980,900, its highest level since the end of 1997.

The UK’s misfortune resembles a time delayed template that shadows the USA.
Global delivery company DHL announced on Monday that it was cutting 9,500 jobs as it discontinues air and ground operations in America.

Job losses have grown since the summer. The American Labor Department reported on Monday that almost 1.2 million jobs were shed through October, raising the unemployment rate to 6.5 percent.

During the first week of November another 15,000 cuts were announced.

The global recruitment and business services sector has seen one of the greatest increases in the number of bankruptcies since last year.

In the UK alone there were 25 firms filing for administration in the third quarter of 2008, up from 15 the previous quarter.

Supply and demand will deflate wage demands as former highly paid workers look to re-enter the market.

Bricks and mortar must wait. The jobs market may be ripe for bargains now.