Caterpillar to Slash 20K Jobs

Though first-quarter profit beat expectations, a growth story is absent

(NEWSER) - The fact that 66% of American companies beat their first-quarter earnings expectations is good, writes Henry Blodget in Clusterstock, but not as good as it looks. A closer examination of the data shows that while profits increased, revenues did not, and “you can’t fire your way to prosperity.” Earnings show companies adjusting to recession—not pulling out of it. “Until companies start surprising on revenue, all this particular ‘green shoot’ shows is that companies are reacting quickly to the recession.” More»

539K positions cut; jobless rate hits 8.9%, highest since 1983

(AP) - The pace of layoffs slowed in April when US employers cut 539,000 jobs, the fewest in 6 months; economists had expected 620,000 job cuts. But the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9%, the highest since late 1983, as many businesses remain wary of hiring in a climate of economic uncertainty. However, the slowdown in layoffs may bolster expectations that the worst of the downturn's hefty job losses are past. More»

The gap between male and female unemployment is the widest on record

(NEWSER) - Of the 5.1 million US jobs that have evaporated since the recession began, men have lost nearly 80% of them, the Financial Times reports, resulting in the widest gap between unemployment rates for men and women since recordkeeping began a half-century ago. Layoffs have nudged the male unemployment rate to 8.8% while the female rate sits at 7%, as females tend to hold more cyclically stable jobs. More»

(NEWSER) - FedEx net income plunged 75% in the third quarter, the company announced today, a bad sign for economists who consider the shipping giant a bellwether. FedEx also announced plans to cut $1 billion in costs, though it didn’t detail how many job cuts that might entail. The company has already lowered salaries, with CEO Fred Smith taking a 20% pay cut. Shares fell 5.9% in premarket trading, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

Thousands of small p

(NEWSER) - Although the stimulus package that Barack Obama signed last month contains eye-watering sums, the earliest projects out of the gate are far from monumental: widening a highway in Kansas, resurfacing some roads in Missouri. More than a dozen states have announced their plans to spend their share of the $50 billion in federal infrastructure money, reports the New York Times. Thousands of small projects are expected to employ up to 400,000 Americans. More»