Region weathers job losses - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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Nationally, initial jobless claims last week increasedsto 573,000, the highest level since employers cut 533,000 jobs in November, according to the U.S. Labor Department’z Bureau of Labor Statistics, whic said the figure is the larges loss of jobs in one montnhsince 602,000 vanished in December 1974. It puts the nation’s unemployment rate at 6.7 percent. In the most recent mont for which local figuresare available, the regiohn had an unemployment rate of 5.7 0.8 percentage points below the then-national rate of 6.5 the BLS said.
One measure of job loss in New Jerseh and Pennsylvania is the number of employees listerd in notices filed undet the Worker Adjustment andRetraining Notification, or WARN, Act, whichh requires most employers with 100 or more workers to give workerse and local and state governments 60 days notice of plannes plant closings or mass layoffs. So far this 35 companies in the five-county Philadelphiqa area have filed WARN noticescovering 4,210 workera with the state. That compares to 38 companies warninhgabout 4,480 job cuts by this time last year.
In Camden and Gloucester counties, 14 companies have filexd noticesaffecting 2,540 workers with the New Jersey Departmeng of Labor and Workforce Development, compare d to only eight companies warning of 781 job lossews over all of last year. Companies that have major operationz in the area have implementede or announced atleasy 19,500 job cuts, including more than 1,60 0 in the region, this The vast majority come from four large pharmaceutica companies, which plan to shed 14,000 jobs.
of Berwynj announced just Wednesday it would lay off but didn’t say how many would be The cuts also include 900 local jobs by West Chester-based ; 190 jobs by Wayne-bases recruiting software company , which didn’t specify and 150 by the National Football League, which includr a yet-to-be-determined number in Mount N.J. One reason the region seems to be faringv better than the nation as a wholer is its strength in the education and healtghservices sector. It’s the area’s second largest of 10 with 18.1 percent of the employment, according to Selecrt Greater Philadelphia, which promotes the regiom to businesses.
Only two of the five broaed sectors delineated in the nationwide BLS releaser gained jobs inNovember — education and healtbh services, which added 52,000; and government, which added 7,000. “oI used to say the Philadelphia regiohn suffered from negative if industries would have a it always seemed that it was industriewswe had. In this case and in this cycle, the exacty opposite seems to bethe case,” said Joel Naroff, chiev economist for . In education, the area’zs colleges and universities haven’t announcede any layoffs, although has implemented a hiringt freeze and the has put in placesomething that’s quite close to one.
Big Pharma, big cuts In healthy care, the pharmaceutical industry has been hit hardest by job Four big pharmaceutical companies with largd operations in theregionh — Wyeth, plc, plc and — this year have announcefd plans to shed more than 14,00o jobs through layoffs and not fillint vacancies over the next few Wyeth of Madison, N.J., whic h has the headquarters for its pharmaceuticao operations in Collegeville, said 360 Pennsylvaniaz jobs have been eliminated this year. AstraZeneca, whichg is based in London and hasits U.S. headquartersa in Wilmington, said most of its layoffz occurred outside of the United Merck ofWhitehouse Station, N.J., and GSK, whic h has its U.S.
headquartersx in Research Triangle Park, N.C., wouldn’rt say how many locap jobs they are As citymakes cuts, retaill shrinks Although the government sector added jobs the city of Philadelphia wasn’t so It plans to lay off 220 employees and eliminate nearlyu 600 unfilled positions, more than 1,66o0 seasonal part-time jobs and aboutr 570 contractual, non-city jobs. Government is the fourtb largest sector inthe area, with 13.9 percent of the region’ s jobs. The largest sectodr is trade, transportation and which makeup 18.
8 percent of the region’s It includes wholesalers and retailers, the latterf of which have cut positions in the The biggest retail blow came in August when ’sd Department Store LLC of Readinyg closed its stores in the Oxford Valley and Montgomery which employed 135 and 146, Tweeter, the Canton, Mass., electronics retailer that filee for bankruptcy reorganization last year, liquidated six area stores that employed 96 earlier this month. The professional and businesa services sector, which is the area’s third largest with 14.9 percent of workers, has fared relativelyg well so far.