Lemonade is a Sweet Recession Documentary

What’s good about getting laid off? Helping kids with cystic fibrosis. Starting a coffee roasting business. Teaching yoga. Becoming a painter. Lemonade is a beautifully shot 40-minute documentary about a group of people who used to work at an advertising agency, and the opportunities they created for themselves. It’s so appealing, we won’t even point out that our Lemonade Makers came first.

Oops. Just did.

Big Layoffs at Wells Fargo and Merck

Two major companies announced major changes today. San Francisco bank Wells Fargo is eliminating 3,800 jobs as part of a “restructuring”–a small number compared to the 278,000 who work for the company, but big for the people who will lose jobs. More than 638 independent consumer finance offices will be closed.

Meanwhile, pharma firm Merck is closing eight plans and eight research sites, including two outposts in the US. It’s canning a whopping 16,000…

Government Layoffs Looming

Here’s some discouraging news about the direction of the economy: An economist predicts that up to 400,000 government workers could lose their jobs over the next year, because state and local governments will be laying off people en masse to close budget gaps.

According to a story in USA Today, New York City is planning 4,500 layoffs

Screwed: 800 in the London Underground

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

Today’s Total: 1,942

London Underground transportation has planned 800 worker layoffs… 750 workers of Toyota Motor Corp.‘s Britain plants are faced with early retirement as Toyota ends its work-sharing system… 202 employees are let go from IBM in the latest round of layoffs… Las Vegas labor unions have not agreed to concessions, a decision which will result in 100 municipal layoffs… In an effort to cut expenses in the 2010-2011 school year, Seattle Public Schools have given layoff notices to 90 staff members.

Screwed: 1,019 in Long Beach Unified School District

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

Today’s Total: 1,338

The Long Beach Unified School District this week starting giving layoff warning notices to 1,019 employees, mostly teachers…The Pasadena Unified School District is cutting more than 164 jobs to help close a huge budget gap…

Screwed: 2,000 at Chevron

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

Today’s Total: 5,788

Chevron will lay off 2,000 workers this year… The financial crisis described by Westchester County Exec Rob Astorino may result in up to 1,600 county layoffs… Irish airline Aer Lingus is laying off 670 employees under a new restructuring plan…the Montgomery County Public School System in Alabama is axing 600 people…St. Mary’s paper in Canada will let go 300….Ceva Logistics in Indiana is letting go all 200 employees…The Minnesota Department of Human Services will cut 200 jobs from a mental illness care program… 110 workers have been temporarily laid off as Sierra Pacific Industries abridge operations at the Chinese Camp, CA cedar mill…NRG Energy will eliminate 70 jobs in Connecticut… 20 police officers are in danger of being laid off in Atlantic City… 18 special education teachers have been laid off from the D.C. School System… The Daily Press, subsidiary of the Tribune Co., will be instituting about 10 percent employee layoffs among the staff of 84…

Screwed: Possible 4,500 in Jackson Health System

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

Today’s Total: 5,076

The Jackson Health System in Florida is considering cutting a whopping 4,500 jobs and two hospitals to close its budget gap…In San Francisco, bio-tech company Exelixis Inc will cut 270 jobs, currently 40 percent of their workforce…In Tennessee, Ford Motor Credit Co. plans to lay off 200 employees by the end of the month…General Dynamics Robotics Systems handed pink slips to 90 employees yesterday, whose last day will be on May 6…

Recession Briefing: Bull Market Turns One Year Old

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

On Wednesday investors will celebrate the first birthday of the current bull market — the one born a day after stocks hit rock bottom on March 9, 2009, ending the second-worst stock market meltdown in history. (USA Today)

The percentage of workers who said they have less than $10,000 in savings grew to 43% in 2010, from 39% in 2009, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual Retirement Confidence Survey. (CNN/Money)

Millions of Americans have been forced to rely on unemployment payments for extended periods as the nation struggles through its longest period of high joblessness in a generation, and critics are taking aim, saying that the Depression-era program created as a temporary bridge for laid-off workers is turning into an expensive entitlement. (Washington Post)…

Screwed: 500 at Vodafone

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

Today’s Total: 887

Vodafone will make 500 job cuts throughout the UK as efforts to cut £1 billion in company costs…In LA County, 300 Los Angeles Supreme Court employees will be handed notices by March 16 about subsequent unemployment on April 1st…In South Carolina, the Union County School District plan to layoff 30 employees by next year…In California, the Calaveras Unified School District will hand out pink slips to 24 teachers by March 15…In other school layoffs news, the Dinwiddie School Board in Virginia decided on a budget cut yesterday, resulting 23 layoffs, including 10 teaching positions…In Texas, Sigma-Herron laid off 10 workers in a pharmaceutical plant this morning.

Screwed: Possible 5,000 in Kansas

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

Today’s Total: 7,073

The Kansas school system is in danger of a possible 5,000 job cuts next year if school funding fails to suffice… Shaw’s grocery store chain is closing its Connecticut locations, laying off 967 workers in the process… Yonkers, N.Y., mayor has announced that next year’s budget may result in either 900 employee layoffs or a 35 percent tax increase… 150 Cadbury workers may be facing layoffs as Kraft restructures the confection maker… Comache County Memorial Hospital in Lawton, Okla. has terminated 56 jobs, including the chief operating officer… Online entertainment company, Slide, is ceasing production on two of its games, laying off up to 10 percent of its workforce in the process…