Economy, Job Cuts | featured news

To get nervous consumers to buy, companies are promising refunds, and sometimes more, in the event of a job loss.

ADP report indicates loss of 742,000 private-sector jobs, well ahead of expectations.

French workers at a factory south of Paris free their boss after holding him hostage in a dispute over lay-offs.

Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of ailing Royal Bank of Scotland, was criticized for keeping his $1 million pension despite a string of ill-timed acquisitions under his reign.

Striking French workers of an American manufacturing company looked likely to hold their boss hostage for a second night on Wednesday after locking him in for more than 24 hours, as nationwide anger mounted over layoffs.

Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes has begun laying off 1,500 workers, or about 4% of its workforce, as part of a second round of cuts resulting from the economic downturn.

AOL is backing out of mainland China – again. Other than a PR rep or two, the company fired all 100 or so of its employees in its Beijing office, according Chinese portal Netease.com. The Wall Street Journal says the AOL China site hasn't been updated since Tuesday. The cuts are a part of AOL's plan to slash 10% of its workforce worldwide.

United Technologies Corp cut its 2009 profit target by about 13 percent and said it would eliminate 11,600 jobs as it no longer anticipates an economic recovery this year.

The practice gives workers some security but, over time, employee morale still suffers.

Rising unemployment in Europe and the U.S. invites instability.