Recent layoffs in the workforce

National Semiconductor Corp.

Announced: March 11

Number of layoffs: 1,725 jobs

Reason for the cuts: Faced with a steep decline in sales, the chip maker said it will eliminate more than one-quarter of its work force.  (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)

Los Angeles Unified School District

Announced: March 10

Number of layoffs: 8,800 jobs

Reason for the cuts: The district, with 688,000 students, faces a $718 million budget shortfall.  (Barbara Davidson / Associated Press)

Schering-Plough Corp.

Announced: March 9

Number of layoffs: 16,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: Merck & Co. is buying Schering-Plough Corp. for $41.1 billion in a deal that gives Merck key new businesses, access to a promising pipeline of new products and the chance to cut costs by $3.5 billion more per year, including eliminating about 16,000 jobs.

Merck hopes the cash-and-stock deal helps it better compete in a drug industry facing slumping sales, tough generic competition and intense pricing pressures.  (Daniel Hulshizer / Associated Press)

United States Steel Corp.

Announced: March 3

Number of layoffs: 1,500 furloughed

Reason for the cuts: U.S. Steel and other steel producers have faced an industrywide slump in demand as the global economic slowdown and credit crisis have undermined key customers in the automotive, construction and industrial equipment markets. Steel prices plunged from record highs last year, though they have recovered modestly in recent months.  (Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.

Announced: Feb. 27

Number of layoffs: 3,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: The closures, which will reduce the company’s chicken production by roughly 10 percent, are designed to save the company $110 million a year as part of an ongoing restructuring. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection in December under a heavy debt load.  (Margaret Croft / Associated Press)

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Announced: Feb. 26

Number of layoffs: 12,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: The company said the jobs will be eliminated related to its acquisition of Washington Mutual Inc.  (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)

Avon Products Inc.

Announced: Feb. 19

Number of layoffs: 3,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: Avon, which already rolled out a massive restructuring plan several years ago, announced a new strategy that it hopes will bring $200 million in annual savings by realigning certain businesses and outsourcing some services.   (M. Spencer Green / Associated Press)

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

Announced: Feb. 18

Number of layoffs: 5,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: The Akron-based company said demand for new tires is weak as auto sales slump and the market for replacement tires is also down because people are driving less.  (Jason Smith / Getty Images)

Smithfield Foods Inc.

Announced: Feb. 17

Number of layoffs: 1,800 jobs

Reason for the cuts: It announced the closures and layoffs as part of a plan to consolidate and streamline its pork business. The company plans to save $125 million a year by 2011.  (Sangjib Min / Associated Press)

General Motors

Announced: Feb. 17

Number of layoffs: 47,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: GM said it may need $30 billion in total government financing to weather the economic downturn and would shutter five more U.S. factories in a massive restructuring plan.

The automaker is already surviving on $13.4 billion in federal loans and said in a plan submitted to the Treasury Department that it would seek an additional $16.6 billion if economic conditions worsen.  (Bill Pugliano / Getty Images)

Chrysler

Announced: Feb. 17

Number of layoffs: 3,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: It cuts jobs as part of the restructuring plan it submitted to the U.S. government.   (Carlos Osorio / Associated Press)

General Motors Corp.

Announced: Feb. 10

Number of layoffs: 10,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: GM said work force reductions would be necessary in order for it to be viable for the long term, citing the need to restructure itself with a government deadline looming and amid some of the worst sales in the auto industry’s history.   (David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

Nissan Motor Co.

Announced: Feb. 9

Number of layoffs: 20,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: It is slashing jobs to cope with what Japan’s third-largest automaker expects will be its first annual loss in nine years.  (Akihiro I / Getty Images)

Panasonic Corp.

Announced: Feb. 4

Number of layoffs: 15,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: The world’s largest maker of plasma display TVs also announced a net loss for the October-December quarter and lowered its forecast for the fiscal year through March to a net loss of 380 billion yen ($4.2 billion), its first annual loss in six years.

Panasonic blamed the dismal results on the global slowdown set off by the U.S. financial crisis, the rapid surge of the yen and sudden price drops. Sales slid in a wide range of products, including flat-panel TVs, DVD recorders, microwaves, lamps and semiconductors, it said.   (Toru Yamanaka / AFP/Getty Images)

Electronic Arts Inc.

Announced: Feb. 3

Number of layoffs: 1,100 jobs

Reason for the cuts: It looks to trim costs and restructure its business. Chief Executive John Riccitiello said “a significant portion” of the quarter’s shortfall, as well as the company’s sharply reduced outlook for the rest of the year, has to do with EA’s own performance.   (Sebastian Willnow / AFP/Getty Images)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

Announced: Feb. 3

Number of layoffs: 5,800 jobs

Reason for the cuts: It plans to cut jobs following its acquisition of National City Corp. last year as the bank swung to a loss during the fourth quarter.

PNC said it posted a loss of $248 million, or 77 cents per share, due to increased credit provisions and costs associated with its purchase of National City in December. A year earlier, PNC earned $178 million, or 52 cents per share.  (Rob Carr / Associated Press)

Macy’s

Announced: Feb. 2

Number of layoffs: 7,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: Macy’s anticipates the reductions and other actions will lower its selling, general and administrative expenses by about $400 million annually starting in 2010.   (Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)

NEC Corp.

Announced: Jan. 30

Number of layoffs: 20,000 jobs worldwide

Reason for the cuts: It is trying to stanch widening losses from semiconductors and other businesses that have been hard hit by competition and the global economic slump.  (Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP/Getty Images)

AOL has sold 800 patents to Microsoft in a $1.06-billion deal.  (Mark Lennihan / Associated Press)

Starbucks

Announced: Jan. 28

Number of layoffs: 6,000 workers and 700 non-store employees

Reason for the cuts: Starbucks is reporting that its profit dropped 69 percent in its fiscal first quarter. Revenue fell to $2.62 billion from $2.77 billion, while analysts had predicted revenue of $2.70 billion.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

Boeing Co.

Announced: Jan. 28

Number of layoffs: 10,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: The news comes on top of waning demand for the company’s commercial jets. Airlines are cutting spending and air travel has declined amid the global economic slowdown and worsening market conditions.  (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)

Sprint Nextel Corp.

Announced: Jan. 26

Number of layoffs: about 8,000 positions

Reason for the cuts: The Overland Park, Kan.-based company has struggled since acquiring Nextel Communications Inc. in 2005 as technical problems, poor efforts to consolidate the two companies and stiff competition for feature-rich phones has led many subscribers to switch to competing services.

It lost a net of more than 3 million subscribers in the previous four quarters, and it seeks to cut annual costs by $1.2 billion.  (Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images)

Pfizer

Announced: Jan. 26

Number of layoffs: more than 8,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: It is preparing for an expected revenue crash when its cholesterol drug Lipitor -- the world’s top-selling medicine and source of one-quarter of Pfizer’s revenue -- loses patent protection in November 2011.  (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

Home Depot

Announced: Jan. 26

Number of layoffs: 7,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: Home Depot said its Expo business, which sells a range of items that include throw pillows, sconces, bathtubs and vanities, hasn’t performed well financially, even during the recent housing boom. It said the chain has weakened significantly in the current economic environment.  (Tim Sloan / AFP/Getty Images)

Caterpillar

Announced: Jan. 26

Number of layoffs: 20,000 jobs

Reason for the cuts: The world’s largest maker of construction and mining machines, which also reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, said it was laying off workers to reduce costs in the face of what it predicted would be the weakest year since the end of World War II.  (Paul Morse / Los Angeles Times)

Microsoft

Announced: Jan. 22

Number of layoffs: up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months

Reason for the cuts: The company announced the cuts as it reported an 11% drop in second-quarter profit, which fell short of Wall Street’s expectations.  (Everett Kennedy Brown / EPA)

Huntsman Corp.

Announced: Jan. 22

Number of layoffs: 1,175 jobs and 490 full-time contractor positions

Reason for the cuts: Demand for chemical products used in consumer electronics, house paint and cars has dropped, which severely cut into companies’ margins.

To generate annual savings of $150 million, the company will trim more than 9% of its work force by the end of 2009, close a plant in the United Kingdom and slash capital spending to reduce costs as demand for its products falls amid the recession.  (Douglas C. Pizac / Associated Press)

Intel

Announced: Jan. 21

Number of layoffs: up to 6,000 manufacturing jobs

Reason for the cuts: The company struggles with souring personal computer demand that has left its factories operating at less than their full capacity. Underutilized factories are cutting into Intel’s margins and were one reason the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company reported a 90% drop in fourth-quarter profit last week.  (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Williams-Sonoma

Announced: Jan. 21

Number of layoffs: 1,400 positions by the end of January

Reason for the cuts: It is trying to cope with slowing sales in the tough economy and save an estimated $75 million.  (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)

United Airlines (UAL Corp.)

Announced: Jan. 21

Number of layoffs: 1,000 jobs, on top of 1,500 it cut late last year

Reason for the cuts: UAL Corp. lost $1.3 billion, hurt by a wrong bet on the direction of oil prices.  (Eric Risberg / Associated Press)

Warner Bros. Entertainment

Announced: Jan. 20

Number of layoffs: 800 jobs

Reason for the cuts: “The changing entertainment landscape, shifting consumer demand and the overall state of the economy have affected companies around the world, and Warner Bros. is not immune to these factors,” Warner Chairman Barry Meyer and President Alan Horn said in an e-mail memo to employees.

The move is expected to save the movie and television studio more than $50 million annually.  (Ed Bailey / Associated Press)

Clear Channel Communications Inc.

Announced: Jan. 20

Number of layoffs: 1,850 jobs

Reason for the cuts: The nation’s largest owner of radio stations is grappling with the economic meltdown.

In the third quarter, the company lost $86.1 million before discontinued operations compared with a profit of $253.4 million, and revenue fell by 4% to $1.7 billion. The steepest drop was in radio advertising, which was down 7% to $844 million.  (Eric Gay / Associated Press)

Rohm & Haas

Announced: Jan. 20

Number of layoffs: about 900 jobs

Reason for the cuts: It looks to slash costs in a weakening economy and will record $90 million in pretax charges for the fourth quarter.  (Justin Maxon / Associated Press)