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…

The Down-and-Out Show for Our Times

Forget the movies. If you want some good old recession-era fare, you better have kept your HBO. Flight of the Conchords is the only place to find company in the misery, set to escapist “smile on your brother” sing-a-longs like Too Many Dicks (On the Dance Floor).

When it first aired in 2007, FOTC seemed like the pinnacle of Williamsburg Brooklyn writ large: fake New Zealand rock stars, unlucky in love, parodying musical genres in nerdy glasses—with a creepy stalker to boot. Funny at times, yes, but also grating in its hipster smugness, more or less the pay-channel equivalent of a night out in Williamsburg.

That, however, was a short-sighted, knee-jerk reactionary view caused by an allergic reaction to ironic tee shirts.

This is what the FOTC is really all about: being broke in the big city. It’s a 21st-century Dickensian tale of poverty, only instead of begging and pick-pocketing, the urchins wear thrift-store short-shorts while jogging and steal cushions from the local library.

Recession Briefing 2.16

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

Anna Wintour: “Value is In” (WSJ)
When the editor of Vogue rails against consumerism, the economy must be in a tailspin.

Job Losses Pose a Threat to Stability Worldwide (NY Times)
Worldwide job losses from the recession that started in the United States in December 2007 could hit a staggering 50 million by the end of 2009. High unemployment rates have led to protests in countries as varied as Latvia, Chile, Greece, Bulgaria and Iceland and contributed to strikes in Britain and France.

White House Dampens Stimulus Expectations (Reuters)
Aides warned Americans on Sunday not to expect instant miracles from the $787 billion economic stimulus bill he will sign this week, but said it would help eventually.

Read more…

Newspapers Facing Death By 15,000 Cuts. Who Else?

Erica Smith, a graphics designer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, is a great example of someone who is applying creativity to bad circumstances.

A couple of years ago, Smith started compiling newspaper layoff reports into a mashup map that shows the toll across the country. “I can only update so many at a time without wanting to jump off the ninth floor of the building I live in,” she told the American Journalism Review.