Toyota, Babcock and Shop Direct deepen the gloom

More than 4,000 job cuts marked a bleak day for British industry yesterday, with AstraZeneca and Shop Direct Group, the owner of Littlewoods, making swingeing redundancies.
Toyota and Babcock Rail also announced deep cuts, although Nissan said it would create 400 temporary jobs by adding an extra production shift in Sunderland for its Qashqai car.
Shop Direct said it would cut 1,500 call centre jobs in Sunderland, Burnley and Newton, Cheshire — about 15 per cent of its workforce. It said the continuing shift of its business online had left it with spare capacity.
Toyota carworkers at its Burnaston assembly plant, near Derby, and at its engine plant on Deeside were told the Japanese car manufacturer would be cutting a fifth of the workforce. Toyota is mothballing one of its production lines and will make both its Auris and Avensis models on the same line. The brunt of the cuts will be at Burnaston, which employs 3,500.

Last year Toyota suffered a collapse in demand. It made just 127,000 cars in Britain, against 213,000 in 2008.
Babcock International, the engineering group, said it was cutting a quarter of staff at its loss-making rail maintenance division. The 300 cuts are to be spread equally between Birmingham, York, Crewe and Scotland.
The decision to shed jobs followed a restructuring of the business and the appointment of a new management team. Rail revenues have plunged after Network Rail, one of its biggest customers, delayed some rail-renewal contracts.
Babcock has also been trying to extricate itself from unprofitable civil engineering work for the railway network operator. The RMT, the rail union, said that skilled workers were being jettisoned in a misguided attempt to save money.
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US jobless rate surpasses 10% to hit 26-year high

America’s rate of unemployment crossed the 10 per cent mark in October to
reach a 26-year high after jobless figures rose by 190,000 last month.

The non-farm payroll figure is above forecasts that 176,000 jobs had been lost
last month. The rate of unemployment in America is now 10.2 per cent — the
highest since April 1983.

While October’s job losses are above expectations, the total is below the
219,000 cuts recorded in September.

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Staff recruitment falling sharply

The number of workers placed in jobs by recruitment agencies has fallen sharply because of the worsening economic downturn, a report has warned.

There has been a “considerable decline” in demand for staff, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). Read more

Pound struggles after sharp fall

Sterling has slipped again against the US dollar after a massive fall on Monday - the largest in percentage terms since 1992.

The pound was trading at $1.479, as against $1.483 at the previous close. Read more

UK job market weakening rapidly

The UK job market weakened rapidly in November as permanent placements declined at record levels, a new survey from Markit Economics suggests.

The drop in permanent and temporary jobs was faster than at any point in the survey’s 11-year history. Read more

Downturn points to cut in rates

The Bank of England’s rate-setters begin their monthly meeting on Wednesday with a range of groups predicting rates will be cut from 4.5%.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is calling for a cut to 4% in its economic outlook that predicts recession in 2009. Read more