eBay to Cut Workforce By 10%

Going, Going...Gone!


EBay Inc. plans to eliminate 1,600 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, to reduce costs as the company tries to revive its slowing growth.

Separately today, eBay revealed its intent to spend $1.34 billion on three acquisitions, the biggest of which is Bill Me Later, an online credit service.

The staff cuts include 1,000 full-time, temporary and part-time workers, plus some open positions that will be left unfilled. They come on top of 125 dismissals earlier this year by the San Jose company, whose core online marketplace is slumping in the face of stiff competition from Amazon.com and users' growing preference for shopping for products at a fixed price rather than by auction.

Working After Retirement- Choice or Necessity

I came across this incredible piece of fluff this morning.

To earn money or keep their hand in the game, many retirees head back to work or start their own businesses.

It took Jay Franklin ten years and three attempts to actually retire. "I flunked retirement. . . twice," jokes Franklin, 69, a hard-charging former sales executive from Thornton, Pa.

After being unexpectedly downsized as vice-president of an international company in June 1996, Franklin, then 58, took the summer off. He hung out with his wife, Doreen, at their beach house in New Jersey and played golf with his friends. He had a pension, lifetime health benefits, a respectable investment portfolio and a closet full of custom-made dress shirts. Retirement, even an accidental one, wasn't so bad.

But when the summer ended and all of his buddies went back to work, Franklin got restless. "There's a loss of identity when you retire, and I missed being in the game," he says. "No one teaches you how to retire."

The article paints a picture of tireless wealthy retirees itching to be productive in their golden years.

With the economy sound and the job market strong, many employers welcome the trend. Fearful of staff shortages after boomers retire, companies are willing to offer experienced workers flexible hours, part-time schedules and innovative "snowbird" programs that let employees split a job between summer and winter locations.

Michael Jalbert, president of MRINetwork, one of the world's largest professional-staffing firms, says his company places an increasing number of retired baby-boomers in jobs. "Companies seek people with the skills, experience and work ethic of that generation," says Jalbert. "It's a candidate-driven market."

Many employers also think older workers are just as productive as their younger counterparts, if not more so, according to a recent report by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. After surveying 400 employers, the center's staff concluded that managers and professionals have better prospects for extending their careers than rank-and-file workers. The report also notes that midsize employers (with 100 to 1,000 employees) offer the best opportunities for older workers.

On the downside, employers view older workers as more costly than their younger counterparts because of their higher salaries and benefits. So you may need to accept less money to land a new job.

I dream for the day when I can 'retire', have plenty of money but work for pennies just to keep busy.

Economy Ties War as Top Voter Concern

This from the AP:

The faltering economy has caught the Iraq war as people's top worry, a national poll suggests, with the rapid turnabout already showing up on the presidential campaign trail and in maneuvering between President Bush and Congress.

Twenty percent named the economy as the foremost problem in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Friday, virtually tying the 21 percent who cited the war. In October, the last time the survey posed the open-ended question about the country's top issue, the war came out on top by a 2-1 majority.

About equal proportions of Republicans, Democrats and independents in the new poll said the economy was their major worry, suggesting the issue looms as a potent one in both parties' presidential contests. It was also cited evenly across all levels of income, underscoring the variety of economic problems the country faces.

Amid increasing trade, job, housing, stock market and gasoline price woes, candidates from each party have started talking about how they would bolster the economy. The issue looms as the dominant one in the next presidential contest: Tuesday's Republican primary in Michigan, which had a 7.4 percent unemployment rate in November that is the nation's worst.

Another Day...Another Factory

Will it ever end?

The Promises of Globalization

Many promises have been made by politicians, economists and various business leaders about the benefits of globalization. Under this system, we were told that the extraordinary wealth produced by it would in turn 'trickle down' to everyone. To those whose jobs would be outsourced, they were told that the 'new' jobs that would be created would be better and high paying.

Take a look at the reality. The corporations and their executives have, in fact, grown more wealthy. Workers, on the other hand, have seen a different side. High skilled manufacturing and tech jobs have been outsourced to low wage countries and this process shows no sign of changing. In fact, the trends show that companies are ever looking for the next lower wage country to do business in. Many of the jobs that have been created are low paying service jobs. Imagine that after working in a textile plant for the last 15 years that suddenly you find that your job no longer exists and you are forced to work in the garden supply department of your local Wal Mart. Not a pretty picture.

Even the company execs are not immune to this process in the long run. The overhead costs of having a corporate headquarters, say in Miami, are high. Overseas manufacturers see high priced American or European managers as a pull on profits and can simply purchase the company and move the headquarters to a cheaper location.

I personally see no end to this 'eternal race to the bottom'. Companies have no reason to change course and the politicians that make the rules have been so seduced with campaign contributions from the business sector that they have no need to reign this in either. Only time will tell....

Globalization- A Win-Win?

The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) on Tuesday issued its report on jobs policies and the effects of globalization. Their conclusion? Globalization is good but people are earning less of the wealth generated by economic growth and integration. Got that? Screw what you make, it's all good.

Although they reasserted their support for 'free trade', 'free markets' and investment, they did acknowledge that perhaps it was time to look at the darker side of globalization. As OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria stated, "Millions are benefiting from globalization but at the same time there's a feeling that something is wrong with the process" and believes that governments need to address public concerns over jobs and pay in a ever rapidly changing world that is seeing the rise of cheap labor from countries such as China, Russia, India and Brazil. This 'it's really good but has bad side effects' take was also reflected by the author of this report, Raymond Torres. He says "It's still a win-win process for all countries. But just because markets are good for growth, not wanting to see these vulnerabilities would be counter-productive".

The report then goes on to look at wages around the globe and finds some startling numbers. For example, in Japan, wages have fallen more than 25% as a share of GDP in the last 30 years, 15 % in Western Europe and 7% here in the United States. The report also showed the wider gap between rich and poor. "It's quite remarkable" was the response from the reports' author. Quite remarkable? That's all? This is the 'win-win' he talks about?

The topic of offshoring jobs was downplayed by stating that people were under the false impression that it was a bigger problem than it actually was. Torres says quite bluntly "The 'job for life' is dead. In order to reap the benefits of globalization you have to move. Enterprises have to move into new areas, new niches, and people have to move into new enterprises. The thing now is to protect people, but not protect jobs, because some jobs have no future."

Their conclusion? Gurria acknowledged that some people had lost out, but this was something policies should tackle because globalization was a positive and in any case inevitable process. "It's how you make the best out of it," he said. "We have to convince people."

I have never read such doublespeak in my life (well not lately, anyways). It is unbelievable that a pro-globalization group can state with a straight face that the process is good but the benefits are not and that everyone just needs to be convinced that lower wages and job instability are the norms today. Sigh...

Open Discussion

How's the economy where you are? Use this thread to discuss the economy, jobs or whatever else is on your mind.

Open Discussion

How's the economic situation where you are? Use this thread to discuss the economy, jobs or whatever else is on your mind.