Dutch banking and insurance group ING said it will cut 7,000 jobs across the globe this year in an effort to cut costs by €1 billion, while Philips, the Dutch electronics group, said it would axe 6,000 jobs, with expected yearly savings of €400 million. Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker, also announced similar measures (3,500 layoffs).
But the worst news came from across the Atlantic as Caterpillar, the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, said it would axe 20,000 jobs in an effort to keep its costs under control. Similar announcements were made by US drugs giant Pfizer (19,000 job cuts), telecoms group Sprint Nextel (8,000), Home Depot (7,000) and General Motors (2,000).
Meanwhile, industrial orders in the 15-member euro area were down by 26.2% in November 2008 compared with the previous year (-25.4% for the EU 27), according to Eurostat figures published on 22 January.
"What began as a crisis in finance markets has rapidly become a global jobs crisis," says the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on its website. "Unemployment is rising. The number of working poor is increasing. Businesses are going under. Concern is growing over the balance, fairness and sustainability of the sort of globalisation we have had in the run-up to the financial crash."
Precise figures for European job cuts are still unknown but politicians did not wait to hear the numbers to air their views as the June European elections draw closer.
"The outlook is getting bleaker, but where are the new efforts of the European Union?," asked Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, president of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in a statement last week. "[US] President Barack Obama is preparing his investment package, China and Russia are putting serious money into their economies, but is Europe doing enough? It looks like too little, too late, and too uncoordinated."
"Europe should be taking new and exceptional measures to stop the predicted loss of 3.5 million jobs this year," Rasmussen further declared.
As the number of layoffs rises, fears of social unrest are also starting to spread. In France, trade unions announced a massive strike for Thursday in support of a "social stimulus" plan to kick-start the economy and create new jobs.
