Johnson & Johnson, the consumer goods and healthcare giant, said that it would cut up to 7% of its 117000 employees worldwide, meaning that as many as 8190 people could lose their jobs.

Johnson & Johnson is the latest healthcare company to have decided to slash costs to negotiate the difficulties of funding research into new medicines. As patents on some of its biggest-selling drugs are close to expiring, it needs to find fresh treatments to fill the gap in revenues. However, bringing a new drug to market costs more than $1 billion (£609 million), with many failing in early stage clinical trials.

By 2011, Johnson & Johnson hopes to save $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion a year through the cuts, with an $800 mill-ion to $900 million cost reduction expected next year. It had already cut about 3 per cent of its workforce in July 2007.

William Weldon, chief executive of Johnson & Johnson, said:

This is what we need to do to ‘rightsize’ the company to make sure we have the resources to invest.

Job losses = 6190

Source: Business Times Online

Taylor Bean & Whitaker shuts down, 5000 jobs at stake.
Alcoholic drinks manufacturer Altia furloughs 650 (all) employees.

Neste Oil announces 450 layoffs.
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics cuts 285 jobs.

Katana Summit layoffs 70 workers.

Kindred Healthcare layoffs 573 employees in Florida.

Bobcat Company plans to layoff 100 workers.
Analogic Corp layoffs 85 workers.

Insurance giant Axa Life plans to cut 350 jobs.

IBM Global Business Services Division cuts 200 jobs.

Celanese Corp plans to layoff 100 workers.

GKN Plc to cut 1100 jobs in 12 months.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel cuts 92 jobs.

Seagate layoffs 2000 workers in Singapore.
PNC Financial Services cuts 74 jobs in Miami.

Mohawk Industries cuts 400 jobs in Georgia.
Patriot Coal to layoff 314 workers.

Ticona Polymers to layoff 100 workers in Cleveland .

KV Pharmaceutical layoffs 300 workers .
Virginia International Terminals layoffs 90 employees.

Rainbows United layoffs 70 employees.

Total losses = 12313

The Carle Foundation has laid off 72 workers in a cost-cutting move. Most of the jobs being eliminated are at Carle Foundation Hospital, with a small number scattered throughout other Carle Foundation health care businesses. The jobs were eliminated in response to financial challenges faced by Carle Foundation Hospital.

Job losses = 72

Job Losses = 19247

April 28: On top of 1850 layoffs announced in January, Clear Channel slashes 590 jobs, bringing cuts to 12% of its original workforce total.
April 27: Lockheed Martin dismisses 225 in New York; cites lost business for Presidential Helicopter Program.
April 27: PPG Industries lays off 110 at fiberglass plant in North Carolina.
April 27: CSX fires more than 150 at New York rail yard.
April 27: General Motors increases originally planned cuts to its U.S. hourly workforce by 8000.
April 24: Carrier Corporation a subsidiary of United Technologies cuts 140 hourly workers.
April 23: Embarq closes call center in North Carolina and dismisses 51 workers.
April 22: Philip Morris International closes North Carolina cigarette plant and fires 1100 workers.
April 22: T. Rowe Price Group reduces workforce by 5.5% (288 jobs), hitting all areas of the company except portfolio managers.
April 22: Capital One Financial cuts 60 employees in its credit card division.
April 20: Brown-Forman Corp. pink-slips 250 workers, or 6% of its global workforce.
April 21: Yahoo! reports 78% drop in first-quarter profit and 5% cut in global workforce (roughly 675 employees).
April 20: Nordstrom cuts 72 jobs in Iowa and Washington.
April 18: Weyerhaeuser closes trucking division in Oregon and cuts 75 jobs.
April 15: Emerson Electric subsidiary in Tennessee fires 200 workers at plant that makes industrial generators.
April 14: Discover Financial Services blames credit losses for 4% workforce reduction (500 jobs).
April 14: Deere & Co. combines two units resulting in 200 pink-slips.
April 13: General Electric fires 100 workers at plant in North Carolina on reduced demand for the plant’s products.
April 9: General Electric’s health care arm fires 179 in Wisconsin.
April 9: Johnson & Johnson cuts 900 jobs in its U.S. pharmaceuticals division as competition in drugs pushes prices down.
April 8: Eastman Chemical notifies 300 employees of layoff; 200 of the cuts are in Tennessee, where the company is based.
April 8: Navistar International pink-slips 350 workers at plant in Ontario.
April 8: Deere & Co. fires 160 workers in Iowa factory in latest of ongoing cuts.
April 6: Weakness in solar power forces General Electric to layoff 85 at solar-panel plant in Delaware.
April 6: Procter & Gamble dismisses 90 workers at Puerto Rico plant that makes skin care products and cold medicine.
April 3: FedEx fires 1000 following a 75% drop in third-quarter earnings announced last month.
April 3: Walt Disney Co. cuts 1900 jobs 1200 people and 700 empty positions at its U.S. theme parks.
April 2: Rite Aid closes a distribution center in Georgia and lays off 297 workers.
April 1: 3M slashes global workforce by 1.5% (1200 jobs) following a December cut of 2300 workers.

Declining enrollment is the blame for 70 job losses at Kaiser Permanente.

As rising unemployment levels continue to impact our membership numbers, we must ensure that we are appropriately staffed to serve the needs of our current members and customers while facing the possibility of further membership declines.

Job losses = 70

Lillian Roberts, executive director of District Council 37 said,

If there is one thing that should be obvious in this economic climate it is that layoffs are not a solution but only compound the problems we’re facing.

If it’s not a solution, then why cut 400 jobs then?

Total losses = 400