Screwed: 500 at Pacific Gas & Electric

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

Today’s Total: 785

Some Good News: Michigan State Police is recalling 55 troopers back to work.

Pacific Gas & Electric will lay off 500 employees by the end of the year, about two percent of its workforce… Boeing Co. had begun giving layoff notices to approximately 250 employees at their Global Services and Support center yesterday but it turns out that there may be job growth in the company’s future… Due to a decrease in sales tax revenue, the city of Las Vegas will lay off 19 workers… At least 13 associates have been laid off from Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP… Hudson Area Schools Board of Ed has approved an additional 3 staff layoffs… Mayor Bloomberg has not ruled out the possibility of municipal New York City layoffs to help cut down the budget… Though its layoffs were previously reported to reach up to 30 employees, game developer Krome Studios has now let go of an undisclosed amount of employees throughout its three studio locations… Duke University may need to lay off additional staff to meet the limits of its budget.

Screwed: 650 in Hawaii

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

Today’s Total: 1,388

The good news: Iowa Gov. Chet Culver is close to formulating an agreement that may prevent 479 state government layoffs.

The bad: Hawaii state layoffs begin today and expect to effect 650 employees by the end of the year… Upwards of 500 San Francisco union workers face layoffs, pay cuts, and job reassignments… Cincinnati’s Metro has laid off 19 full- and part-time workers and will be letting go of another 101 employees, including unionized workers, part-time employees, and full-time administrators… Newsweek is planning approximately one dozen staff layoffs… Anheuser-Busch is laying off 45 hourly workers from its Manitowoc plant… Mayor Reichert of Macon, Ga. intends to layoff 31 city employees… Australian game developer Krome Studios is laying off up to 30 employees from its Brisbane studio… Santa Clara, Calif.-based factory equipment maker Applied Materials is cutting up to 12 percent of its workforce… An undeclared number of layoffs are to take place at Sinclair Tulsa Refining Co. as it merges with Holly Corp…

Laid Off and Learning…to be a DJ

While the kids return to school in the coming weeks, adults impacted by the recession have been returning to the classroom as well. For an increasing number of the recently laid off, unemployment has turned into the chance to explore the creative jobs they dreamed about as a kid.

At local community colleges and private learning centers around the country, the New York Times reports, “hundreds of thousands” of newly unemployed white-collar workers have begun taking advantage of low-cost classes. While many are using the additional schooling as a way to beef up resumes or transition into new careers, an increasing number are checking out the classes simply as a way to pass the time and have a little fun while they wait for a new job in their current profession.

Still wondering what opportunities exist for those with unlimited free time and a steady stream of unemployment checks to fund a foray into fun education? A few ideas…

7 Tips for Living with the Unemployed

The economy is supposedly in recovery, but layoffs are still prominent in virtually every industry. Many more people than usual can relate to a phenomenon usually restricted to the over-60 set: living with an unemployed spouse.

While being laid off and entering into retirement are far from the same, they both often leave one half of a couple with extra time on their hands, and plenty of pent-up energy that their significant other, coming home after a long day at work, can’t handle.Read: 4 Reasons To Date The Unemployed

WSJ.com recently wrote an article that shared a few words of wisdom on how to deal with this situation. Here are a few of their tips, plus some of our own…

Ode to Less and Less

My job as an administrative executive at a large publisher was eliminated over two years ago, after almost 18 years there. Although this is never good, I was treated respectfully, paid a very fair severance and retired this March. In some ways, this fact and, later, “the recession,” may have sparked dormant creativity. I began to re-teach myself how to write, composing haiku or light verse almost everyday. I also expanded my illustrated notebooks and journals, kept for years, and began making original collages.

In March, I started a small consulting firm, and Christie’s is my first client. So, I am at Ground Zero of what I think of as a deep and profound cultural shift, rather than merely a “recession.” I have a daughter who is 23 and a son, 25, both striking out on their own as well…

Lose Your Job, Swap Your Wife?

If you wondered what the real bellwether of the economy might be, well, it’s sometimes hard to tell – maybe it’s “Wife Swap”?

Back when the economy still appeared to be in okay shape, “Wife Swap,” the ABC show about, yes, swapping wives, featured a couple where the husband was a venture capitalist. The episodes taped last fall.

Now, as the economy has gone all sucky, the producers of the show are taking a new tack: Let’s find some people who’ve really been screwed in the downturn. Is that you? Are you married and count yourself among the “victims of this tough economy”? Then the show’s producers want YOU…