Are You On the Layoff List?

So many people report that being laid off came as a total surprise. One morning they show up for work as usual. An hour later they’re sitting behind their steering wheel stunned, with a box of pictures and books in the backseat.

It’s bad enough to lose your job. But to have it take you by surprise is just unfathomable. How can you read the tea leaves on something like this so that it doesn’t happen to you? Or so that it doesn’t happen to you again?

Here are some signs that you might be on a list of people to be laid off:

• Your company has hit hard times and has publicly announced that it will institute “cost-cutting measures.”
• Your industry sector has taken a dive on Wall Street.
• Your company has been acquired, and there’s someone just like you already ensconced in the acquiring company.
• Your company just bought your competitor, and there’s someone just like you in the newly acquired company…

Recession Lexicon: Recession Roadkill

“Recession roadkill” refers to the laid-off, the unemployed, and those generally getting run over by the merciless wheels of the economy. The term has been popping up lately on the blogosphere (Jim Cramer’s blog on TheStreet.com; Miss Pink Slip ).

Ex: Being recession roadkill has allowed me to indulge my daytime soap fetish.

Recession Dispatch from…Baltimore

BALTIMORE—Richard Friedman wrote in the New York Times a few weeks ago that while it may take a few weeks for anti-depressants to start working, the “side effects, like sexual dysfunction, are often immediate.” Whether or not this is a metaphor for the stimulus package, it is a fact that many Baltimoreans, mostly suburban, mostly with their children in private schools, are suffering. They started swallowing Cymbalta, Effexor, and Celexa somewhere around Christmas and, two months into their visits to the Ruxton Pharmacy, the situation, both nationally and in Baltimore, couldn’t be worse.

Screwed: 2,500 at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Printing press manufacturer Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG plans to lay off 2,500 German employees… Sun Microsystems will give 1,500 employees the boot… Electrolux is cutting 129 jobs in its Webster City, Iowa laundry plant…Dechert LLP is eliminating 125 positions, 63 attorney and 62 staff… Ohio county Sherriff is laying off 40 percent of his workforce…

Recession Briefing 3.31

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

GM’s Hummer brand has seen sales fall off so sharply that the carmaker may announce today that it will stop making the extra-large SUVs. (New York Times)

They don’t show up in statistics, but underemployed freelancers and involuntary part-timers are the hidden casualties of the recession. (BusinessWeek)

Responding to the recession’s new marketing landscape, companies are targeting consumers’ job-loss fears and offering relief. Some are offering refunds, rebates, or special offers if the buyer is subsequently laid off. (USA Today)

If you come across a good article or blog post about the recession pass it on.

Out on the Street: Sushi is a Privilege

Each week, “Joe the Trader” chronicles his experiences with life after Wall Street.

As I was watching Federer dismantle Safin in the Australian Open in January, my 10-year-old daughter sighed.

“Oh Daddy, I guess since you don’t have a job we won’t be able to go to the US Open this year. I sure hope you get one soon because that was fun.”

She was referring to the weekend I was able to bring my three children and girlfriend to a luxury box, courtesy of Royal Bank of Client Entertainment. While my lady and I drank Veuve Clicquot and enjoyed watching Rafa and Venus play, the kids focused on finishing their Ben & Jerry’s ice cream bars before they melted in the late summer sun. Yes dear, it was a bit of alright. For now, no more US Open, no more Yankees tickets, no more ski conferences. I sure hope I get a job soon too.

The Freelancer’s Tip Sheet

The Recession provides excellent opportunities for freelancers as companies shed regular staff and look to freelance workers for contract jobs. There’s no magic formula for freelancing, but these tips may help you be more effective:

1. Keep meticulous records.
Be sure to keep receipts for everything relating to your work for potential tax deductions. Things like magazine subscriptions, web domains, and dedicated phone lines can all potentially be listed. This is especially important if you have a clearly defined home office area. You can write off some expenses based on ratio of office space to home.

2. Create a formula for what to charge.
Many freelancers use this simple formula: $D /B hrs. D is how much you want to earn in a year. B is the total number of billable hours that you think you can secure in a year. Most freelancers estimate B on the basis of 15 billable days per month, for an 8-hour day (15 d/mth x 8 hr/d x 12 mth/yr = 1440 hrs/yr)…

Timothy Noah Calls Out Repubs on Health Care Shenanigans

Want to pay less for health care? You won’t if certain senators have their way. Slate’s Timonthy Noah follow the threads of some weird and wily arguments about health care today in his “Lemon Economics.” He calls attention to five senate Republicans who are planning to defend the private health insurance industry to the last breath and vow to block the creation of public plans. Noah catches these lawmakers in a specious argument: They are finally owning up to the fact that government health insurance programs like Medicare out-perform their private counterparts both in delivering benefits and in keeping prices down. But get this: The senate Republicans use that as an argument against them…

The Growing Lemonade Stand

There are many cute sayings on how hard times bring about new discoveries. “Necessity is the mother of invention.” “Turning adversity to advantage.”

At Recessionwire, we’re always amazed by the stories of how people are dealing with the tough hand that’s being dealt us all right now, but the clichés don’t capture it — the obstacles from without and especially within that go into taking this pile of, ahem, economic lemons and not simply dumping them but turning them into drinkable, sellable lemonade…

Screwed: 1,450 at Hospira

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Pharmaceutical company, Hospira Inc., eliminates 1,450 jobs… Boise State University will not be renewing 800 employee contracts, including staffers, faculty members and special lecturers… Walt Disney World gives 800 employees the axe… Wal-Mart Stores Inc. closes an optical lab, laying off 650 employees… Amazon closes several facilities, cutting 210 jobs…. Lionsgate studio lays off 45 employees…