Screwed: 11,600 at United Technologies

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

United Technologies , the conglomerate owner of Otis, Carrier, Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, and Hamilton Sundstrand, lays off 11,600…Los Angeles school system serves approximately 9,000 employees with a warning layoff notice…of the approximately 1,000 educators from Sweden’s National Union of Teachers that have been given notice of impending layoffs, 300 have gotten the axe… AOL proceeds with plan to fire 700 people by the end of March…The Toro Company in Wisconsin is temporarily laying off 235 employees…

Places to Look for a (Cheap) Home

As a native of Cleveland, Ohio, I was dismayed by the devastating portrait of the city’s flat-lining real estate market in Sunday’s New York Times. Flippers and other opportunists continue to be propped up by laws in their favor and banks who pull a “what, me?” shrug instead of stepping up to responsibility. Foreclosed on and abandoned homes have turned some neighborhoods into ghost towns. Cleveland is said to be a bellwether of the teetering real estate market.

It turns out lots of places are like Cleveland, with home values underwater. Business Week has identified some of them as targets for aspiring homeowners.

Redux: The Shape of the Recession

Looking back at the Great Depression to see the path ahead.

Will the Recession make women fat, or will we stop killing ourselves to be thin?

Body size is a moveable feast, and it changes according to cultural flux. After a long reign of fragile-looking, emaciated models, a strong, athletic form look may be making a comeback. First Lady Michelle Obama’s muscular shape recently graced the cover of Vogue, announcing a new look for the new reality. At the Academy Awards, Kate Winslett was queen of the evening, her gloriously curvaceous figure the envy of all. In interviews she announced – shocker!—that she is too busy to exercise and eats whatever she wants. Oprah Winfrey praised her “real” figure, telegraphing a message to women across American that it’s okay to sport a more natural look. The First Lady and the Academy Award Winner, substantial in both intellect and physicality, flaunt bodies that suggest strength and purpose. They look independent, normal, and accessible.

I Miss My Dry Cleaner

His name is Willie, and he has a young granddaughter. He runs Jan Sun with his wife, Peggy, and is so known for his skill with an iron that one customer who moved across the country still mails his best shirts to New York to be pressed.

I give them my dry cleaning but not my laundry, because there are (or were) three shops on my block, and I wanted to spread my business around. My laundry goes across the street, where my guy always remembers my last name, and how to spell it correctly. When I owe him, say, $15.30, he takes only the bills and leaves the dimes on the counter.

When I lost my job at the end of 2008, I started spending more time in my neighborhood—but spending less money there. Since I don’t have to dress up for work, I have little that needs dry cleaning. My heels don’t get worn down, and when you’re not buying new clothes there’s no need to visit the tailor. Fresh flowers are an indulgence. I reluctantly began to do my own laundry.

I felt poorer, but not in the way I had expected.

Recession Briefing: 3.10

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

A study has found that CEO bonuses are falling sharply. The median total bonus pay for chiefs of 173 large U.S. companies fell 19.1 percent in fiscal 2008 from a year earlier, dropping to $889,715 from $1.1 million (Reuters)

Moody’s has published a list of 283 companies most likely to default on their debts in the coming months. The list includes carmakers, the casino sector, and many retail chains and media companies. (Wall Street Journal)

A survey indicates that the unemployment rate could reach 9.4% in the U.S. this year. “Even if things become less apocalyptic it doesn’t mean the unemployment rate will come down,” said economist Michael Feroli. (Bloomberg)

According to a new study, over 24 million people in the U.S. went from “thriving” in 2008 to “struggling.” West Virginia, Kentucky, and Mississippi have the lowest well-being ratings. (Gallup)

Screwed: 1,300 at Tata Consultancy Services

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

India’s Tata Consultancy Services will lay off 1,300 workers… FM Industries in the Dominican Republic is cutting 1,000 jobs…law firm White and Case laid off 400 employees, an even number of attorneys and staff…Eastman Chemical plans to cut 200 to 300 jobs in the coming month…Morgan, Lewis & Bockius gives 216 employees the axe, including 55 attorneys and 161 legal and administrative staff…Virginia’s Hampton City School District served approximately 200 employees with layoff notices, including 50 teachers…

Elvis Thrives

Yes, at times it does feel nerve-stretchingly like we’re on the brink of complete economic collapse. But not every industry is struggling in the recession. Hollywood is hopping. Wal-Mart is wowing.

Some more surprising businesses are thriving, too—or at least claim to be. If you’re seeking a growth industry in which to plant the seeds of your next career, it might be time to pull out that sequined jumpsuit. We know you have one.

Tattooing
According to artists at the Salt Lake City international tattoo convention in February, the downturn isn’t keeping people from spending on skin.

Dip Me in Chocolate – On Not Loving Clara’s Cooking Show

Clara Cannucciari’s online cooking show “Depression Era Cooking with Clara” is an Internet sensation, drawing thousands of viewers across the country who follow recipes from this cute Italian granny’s hardscrabble girlhood. Watching the 93-year old Internet phenom whip up pasta, peas and potatoes in her sparse kitchen on transports me to another place and time. A cold water flat in the 1930s?

Not exactly.

Instead, I find myself fantasizing about the luscious Nigella Lawson dipping her beloved Bounty chocolate bars in the deep fryer in her posh London pad.

Out on the Street: The Real Credit Crisis

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

While it was old news, I was still left speechless by the article a fellow member of the He-Man’s Unemployment club recently sent to me. In early January, Newsweek published “The Case for Walking Away,” in which the author suggests that 2009 is the year to file for personal bankruptcy.

Don’t wait until it’s too late, the article advises. Indeed, “the right time to file for bankruptcy is when you’re financially stuck but still have assets to protect.” It is truly a sign of the times when a major news magazine is actually advocating such a thing.

The word credit is derived from the Latin credo, “to believe.” If integrity goes who will believe anybody? The current situation is truly a crisis of credit.

Recession Briefing: 3.9

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

The World Bank says the faltering U.S. economy is dragging the rest of the world into recession. It predicts that the global economy will contract this year for the first time since the 1940′s. (Washington Post)

Warren Buffett said that the U.S. economy has “fallen off a cliff,” and that he feared its eventual rebound would spark inflation. He said the economy was experiencing “close to the worst-case” scenario. (Reuters)