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Falling gasoline prices may be great for consumers, but they’re tough on energy firms and their workers. The latest layoffs announcement comes from the oilfield services firm Baker Hughes, which plans to cut 7,000 employees — 11 percent of its workforce. Global oil prices have plunged 60 percent since last June, making some drilling operations unprofitable. “While market demand ended up being more resilient in the fourth quarter than many had predicted, the recent declines seen in rig counts will clearly affect results in 2015,” said company CEO Martin Craighead. Speaking to analysts about the layoffs, he said, “This is...

American Express will slash 4,000 jobs, even as the company reported that fourth quarter earnings were dented by foreign currency movements. Bloomberg reported that the job cuts are part of a restructuring, and a spokesperson said they will cut across the company. In its earnings release, the company said it is taking a pretax restructuring charge of $313 million to "improve operating efficiencies." After the bell Wednesday, American Express reported that fourth quarter profits rose 11% to $1.45 billion, or $1.39 a share, versus an expected $1.38 per share. Revenues rose to $9.1 billion from $8.5 billion, a 7% increase,...

Clayton, N.C. — Hospira, a manufacturer of injectable and other drug products as well as medical devices, is closing its plant in Clayton which employs some 250 people. Hospira says the facility will close in the second half of this year. “After a thorough evaluation of the site and the various products produced at this facility, we had to make this difficult decision,” said Matt Stober, senior vice president for operations, in a statement. The firm operates a major plant in Rocky Mount as well. In 2012, it decided to add 200 works at that operation. Hospira (NYSE: HSP) disclosed...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)SALISBURY, Md. - A shocking turn of events on Wednesday, as aeronautical company Labinal Power Systems announced it will soon be closing its doors. This means over 600 employees -- about 94% from Wicomico County -- may be out of a job. According to Labinal, up to 160 of those employees could possibly be transferred to their Texas facility. As for the rest, local leaders say there are resources in town. Those resources may come in the form of "re-training". According to Wor-Wic Community College president Ray Hoy, these workers have valuable skills but they might not translate to another...

HOUSTON — Baker Hughes said Tuesday it will lay off 7,000 mostly in the first quarter of 2015, amid a crude oil price slump and drilling slowdown it expects to worsen in the next quarter. The announcement came shortly after the oil service company reported that its net income for the three months ending Dec. 30 rose to a record high of $663 million, or $1.52 a share. After adjustments to exclude deconsolidation of a joint venture, the company reported an earnings per-share of $1.44. In the same period of 2013, Baker Hughes reported $248 million in profit. The layoffs...

Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes Inc said it expects to lay off about 7,000 employees, days after industry leader Schlumberger Ltd said it would cut jobs as drilling activity slows due to a steep fall in oil prices. Global oil prices have tumbled almost 60 percent since June, hitting five-year lows as growing production and tepid global demand has caused a supply glut and prompted oil producers to scale back spending. Schlumberger said last week it would cut 9,000 jobs, or about 7 percent of its workforce.

There’s blood on the Street. In a wild swing of the ax that has shocked many pundits, Wall Street’s biggest banks have slashed nearly 50,000 jobs, and bonuses and expense money are being cut as profit opportunities dry up. And there’s no easy way out, analysts say, because the Fed’s quantitative easing that once rescued the financial system with trillions of cheap dollars is — at least for now — history. But while some analysts were unnerved by the carnage announced by banks last week during their earnings calls, the warning signs were there before — from lower trading and...

The drop in the price of oil will cost 9,000 workers at Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) their jobs. The company disclosed: In response to lower commodity pricing and anticipated lower exploration and production spending in 2015, Schlumberger decided to reduce its overall headcount to better align with anticipated activity levels for 2015. Schlumberger recorded a $296 million charge associated with a headcount reduction of approximately 9,000. Unfortunately for the workers, the oil services company had good reason. Although fourth-quarter revenue rose 6% to $12.5 billion and operating income by 7% to $1.9 billion, the company believes the situation has deteriorated:

Women's fashion discount retailer Deb Shops is closing all of its stores in Michigan and nationwide. After more than 80 years in business, the Philadelphia-based retailer, which specializes in junior- and plus-size apparel, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Dec. 4, according to a news release. On Jan. 7, the bankruptcy court awarded Gordon Brothers Group and Hilco Merchant Resources the store closing process for all locations. Officials with Gordon Brothers Group and Hilco Merchant Resources began going-out-of-business sales at approximately 287 Deb Shops retail locations Friday, Jan. 9, the release states. The company's website gob.debshops.com now is simply an...

Just two days after it warned that it might file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Body Central is shutting all of its stores and headquarters completely. The chain’s 265 stores are running “aggressive promotional sales through Sunday,” Gardner Davis, an attorney representing the Jacksonville-based chain of clothing stores geared to young women and teens, said on Friday afternoon. It has stores in the The Avenues and Orange Park malls and River City Marketplace. The company’s headquarters and warehouse closed Friday, he said. “It’s tragic that the company’s 2,500 loyal employees are losing their jobs,” he said. About 185 of those employees worked...

The preppy lifestyle brand started by Tory Burch’s ex-husband, Chris Burch, is shutting down its remaining locations ‘due to the highly competitive nature of the current retail environment,’ a spokesman said. It’s curtains for C. Wonder. The retailer confirmed that it will shutter its remaining locations. C. Wonder is closing up shop. The retailer, which was launched by designer Tory Burch’s ex-husband, Chris Burch, will be shutting down its remaining stores, a spokesman confirmed. “Due to the highly competitive nature of the current retail environment, C. Wonder will be closing its remaining stores," a spokesman said in a statement to...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A technology company says it will lay off more than 1,500 employees at a Boise call center where workers handle questions about the federal health care law. The Idaho Statesman reports (http://bit.ly/1F11uRI ) that Maximus Inc. has hired, laid off and rehired hundreds of employees at the call center since 2013....

Yesterday, New York Times readers were treated to a beautifully nuanced and balanced and richly detailed feature about a topic very much in the mix. Its author, Ariel Kaminer, came by her story and its scoop—the first interview with the accused (possibly falsely) rapist of the woman at Columbia who is carrying a mattress around campus to make a statement about campus sexual violence—by developing deep roots in a narrow beat, higher education. And now, Ms. Kaminer will join a hundred or so of her colleagues on the unemployment line as the Times once again cuts costs by cutting journalists....

Job cuts at the New York Times will exceed the stated goal of 100 newsroom positions eliminated, the Newspaper Guild of New York said yesterday in a memo to union members. According to the guild, the Times said yesterday it will lay off 21 union-represented employees starting as early as today, after 57 guild members and roughly 30 non-guild members accepted buyout applications. That amounts to more than the 100 newsroom positions the newspaper said it needed to eliminate as a cost-cutting measure on Oct. 1.

VANSANT, Va. -- Some 175 miners at three SunCoke Energy facilities were laid off today after their mines were idled, company officials announced this afternoon. The Dominion No. 36 mine and parts of the Dominion No. 7 and Dominion No. 30 mines have been idled, said Steve Carlson, spokesman for SunCoke. He said those mines are all in far Southwest Virginia. The move is a step in SunCoke's ultimate plan to exit the coal-production business, Carlson said. The announcement also included plans to reduce production at the Jewell Coke plant in Vansant. "At this point, the plan is to look...

CNN's Washington bureau is suffering from low morale and high anxiety in the wake of weeks of layoffs and buyouts — with one employee likening the place to the Redskins’ locker room. In conversations with POLITICO, sources at the bureau spoke of tension in the office as several longtime staffers have been let go while others are being promoted and given raises. On Friday, during the most recent departures, "people were crying all over the bureau," one D.C. employee said.

Nearly 100 workers at Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant got a robocall on Halloween telling them their services were no longer needed and they were terminated. It wasn't a trick or a morbid prank. Dozens of workers missed the call or didn't believe it, so they showed up to work Saturday anyway, according to an autoworker who wished to remain anonymous. They found their ID badges had been disabled and were told by security they had been fired. "As part of our normal business process, we've temporarily adjusted our workforce numbers at Chicago Assembly Plant," Ford Motor Co. said in a...

With projections of a GOP win growing daily, nervousness in Senate committee offices has turned to panic as an army of Democratic staffers braces to be fired, replaced by a Republican majority and their aides. The spoils of political war? Estimates are that 300-600 Democratic committee and personal staff jobs would be on the chopping block if the Republicans pull off the expected victory. “There will be a mass exodus of Senate Democrat staff from committees,” said one insider. And Republicans will get to hire hundreds more aides. A loss on Tuesday that keeps the Democrats in charge of the...

Kaiser Permanente and other health providers are putting pressure on the powerful California Nurses Association (CAN) in negotiations for reductions in medical staffing and compensation due to the implementation of California’s version of Obamacare. Union nurses on Friday tried to launch a new initiative by demanding an extra compensation supplement and more staffing to be prepared to fight the Ebola virus. But just three years after union nurses won huge contract gains by striking, Obamacare rules that cut patient access to care could now result in huge nurse layoffs. ... the California Nurses Association and other labor unions that campaigned...

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to a 14-year low last week, a positive signal that could counter doubts over whether the economy is shifting into a higher gear. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 264,000, the lowest level since 2000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The decline suggests the labor market is gaining steam even as worries grow that the economy will not be strong enough for the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates around the middle of next year.