In the 2019 January , some big companies are said to have new layoffs. Even though they are feeling like a big-budge team in the past, they have to resort to extreme cost-cutting methods. Are they undergoing a sunset, or just cutting jobs for other reasons? When it comes to layoffs, people are often connected to recession. These cases are rising people’s concern of economic downturn that the market has been worried about. But in fact, although global economic growth has slowed down, it is still advancing. These companies are dealing with different difficulties.
According to IKMResearch, the layoffs since 2018 are the largest wave of cutbacks since 2015. 300,000 people will be affected approximately. There will be 60,000 people affected in The United States, while nearly 40,000 people will be involved in Europe. The competition of technology and humanity ,as long as market downturn, is the main domination in the layoffs since 2018. Amoung all the different industries, the auto industries are the turbulent areas.
01 Auto industry layoffs wave
According to IKM Research’s incomplete statistics, the global automotive sectors are spending the darkest time in the layoffs. Automative layoffs in Europe are higher than other areas.
The reasons for the layoffs of the car include two major aspects:
1. The time of electric vehicle is coming. Compared with the traditional vehicles，the automobile spare parts manufacturing will be simplified. In terms of power system, parts manufacturing and maintenance, the number of employees of electric vehicles will be reduced by 60%. The German Ifo Institute of Economics warned that 600,000 jobs in Germany are facing disappearing.
2. In addition, due to the slower global growth, consumption of bulk commodities declined. Automobile consumption was weak in 2018, and global automobile consumption in various countries experienced a period of slow growth.
In 2018, China’s national car production and sales figures of 27.81 million units and 28.08 million units, for YoY declines of 4.2% and 2.8% respectively.The Car sales in China have posted their first negative growth reading for nearly three decades according to 2018 data
Source: China Automobile Association, IKMResearch, 2019
To those departing, thank you for everything you have done to advance our mission. I am deeply grateful for your contributions to Tesla. We would not be where we are today without you. – Elon Musk
1. Tesla reduced full-time employee headcount by approximately 7% after its investment of 50 billion Shanghai factory
January 18, Musk issued an open letter to internal staff, Tesla announced that it will lay off 7% of full-time employees, only retain the most critical Temporary workers and contractors. According to public information, Tesla currently has about 45,000 employees, which means that the number of layoffs will exceed 3,100. In addition, as early as mid-2018, Tesla announced plans to lay off 9% of its workforce, involving more than 4,000 people. Earlier on January 7, Tesla Shanghai Super Factory officially started construction in Lingang Industrial Zone. The annual production scale of the first phase is 250,000 pure electric vehicles, and about 3,000 Model3s are produced every week.
2. Jaguar Land Rover plans to lay off 5,000 people.
Jaguar Land Rover reported a loss of 101 million pounds ($129 million), as persisting challenges in its largest market China, where tariff changes and trade tensions led to a drop in retail sales, weighed. JLR is going to cut up to 5,000 jobs from its 40,000 strong UK workforce, when it has previously reduced the number of 1,000 hourly jobs in the Solihull factory and the working hours of other factory workers. Jaguar Land Rover also stopped recruiting new people and reduced unnecessary travel. According to a report by the Financial Times, Jaguar Land Rover will outline the short-term content of its plan in January next year, including layoffs of up to 5,000 people. Mass layoffs may be related to the transformation plan. Jaguar Land Rover announced that all new models will be electrified by 2020.
3. General Motors shuts down seven factories around the world
On November 26th 2018, GM announced that it will lay off about 14,000 people, shut down five North American factories, and close three overseas factories outside North America by the end of next year. It is also announced that GM’s investment in electric vehicles and autonomous driving will double in the next two years. At the same time, the next-generation electrified drive architecture will be the focus of GM’s investment, while speeding up the launch of new products.
4. Massive layoffs at Beijing Hyundai Factory, currently ruling 2,000 people
The demolition of the modern factory in Beijing is expected to lay off 2,000 people. The factory was shut down for 46 days from December 27, 2018. Beijing Hyundai has three complete vehicle production plants in Shunyi, Beijing, and one vehicle production plant in Wuzhou and Chongqing, Hebei. The current capacity of the five plants totals 1.65 million. In 2018, even though Beijing Hyundai successively launched a preferential car purchase policy, it only ended with a disappointing retail sales of 746,100 units, and the capacity idle rate was as high as 54.78%. Excessive capacity vacancy rate directly affects corporate profits, and a large amount of manpower, material resources, hardware and software investment can not play its due role, and continuously reduce corporate profits.
5. Nissan Motors is cutting off the factory jobs in Mexico and United States
On December 20th 2018, Japanese automaker Nissan said that due to the turbulent and challenging market environment, it will lay off about 1,000 people in two factories in Mexico. On January 17th 2019, Nissan Motor planed to lay off about 700 employees at the Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant in Mississippi, USA.
6. Volkswagen will lay off 7,000 people in Hanover and Emden
The Volkswagen Group plans to lay off its staff at the Slovakian plant in 2019 and will also return about 500 workers borrowed from Audi Hungary in 2016, reducing the number of contractors and not extending the fixed-term contract. The move is the first time that Volkswagen has laid off employees in the factory since the global economic downturn in 2009, and did not disclose the specific number.
7. Ford plans to lay off thousands of people in Europe.
In the 2008 financial crisis, the only auto company in the United States that did not rely on state aid to get out of the crisis, Ford, also recently announced a layoff plan in Europe: It will lay off thousands of people in Europe and consider closing some factories, stopping the loss of car production lines, and striving to achieve the 6% operating profit target in Europe.
8.Apple dismissed more than 200 employees from Project Titan, its autonomous vehicle group
At the end of January, Apple fired more than 200 employees from its self-driving car team Titan, and some were transferred to other departments or project teams to support Apple machine learning and other projects.
02 Internet technology industry
Internet technology industry layoffs news frequently. According to incomplete statistics, more than 14 well-known domestic and foreign Internet technology companies have issued layoffs notices.
1. Mobai was exposed to layoffs for nearly 30%
In December 2018 , Mobai was exploding in mass layoffs. The Mobike bicycle layoffs are up to 30%. The Mobai team is nearly a thousand people, which means that nearly 300 people are about to leave.
2. At the end of the tide of the mutual gold industry, many companies in the mutual gold industry have laid off
A large number of employees for various reasons, adopting the elimination system at the end, and only failing to control and strictly controlling the number of employees. In addition, the company’s attendance is not strict in the past, and may be laid off in the near future. The first car loan was exposed to a broken capital chain and layoffs of 70%. The first car loan responded that the “first car loan capital chain break, mass layoffs, arrears of agent rebates and deposits” on the Internet are all one-sided false information. The recent staff changes are actually the company’s integration based on existing business and regional personnel, in order to better adapt to the changes in the external environment.
3.36Kr cancell its year-end awards and annual meetings36 Kr,a famous Chinese tech media group , is undegoing a massive laid off. 10% of the media group and 20% of the Kr Space, its coworking band, and 30% of the whale data department are on the cutting lists. On January 10th 2019, the President of the Space Office issued a notice to the company to announce changes in the annual meeting. “Decision to cancel the year-end summary meeting and annual meeting celebrations that are closely related to everyone.”
4. iFly Tech was blasted to optimize 30% of its employees
The iFly Tech was blasted to optimize 30% of its regular employees. It responded that the relevant rumors were not true, and the company is conducting year-end performance evaluation and final elimination.
5. Zhihu(知乎) the proportion of smashed layoffs or up to 20%
On December 11th 2018 , Zhihu, Chinese Quaro company, was said to have a smashed layoffs reached to 20%, involving 300 people. Zhihu denied and declared that it means that the employee performance evaluation will be carried out at the end of the year, and personnel adjustment and structural optimization will be carried out. At present, many positions are widely recruited.
6. Sina was smashed into Chengdu R&D Center
On December 27th 2018, Sina Weibo Chengdu R&D Center laid off all staff. Sina said that there is no layoffs, it is a normal assessment and the last elimination.7.Didi is having a significant structural adjustment , 25% of the network layoffs
At present, the number of employees in Didi is more than 13,000. According to informed sources, the proportion of layoffs reached 25%, involving more than 3,000 employees. The product technology and network car team were the hardest hit areas for the layoffs. Previously, Didi has canceled this year’s annual meeting, CEO Cheng Wei also said that the performance was poor last year, the year-end award was reduced by half compared with last year, and the executives did not have a year-end award.
8. Nokia plans to laid off 1330 people in France, Germany and Finland
On January 15th 2019, Nokia announced that it will lay off 1330 people in France, Germany and Finland, accounting for about 1% of the layoffs. As part of its cost-saving plan, the company will lay off 350 people for the Finnish business. According to Nokia’s plan, the company will cut 700 million euros (about 800 million US dollars) by the end of next year. At present, Nokia has about 6,000 employees in Finland, and the layoffs will account for 6% of the total number of employees in Finland.
9. Telecommunications company Vodafone plans to lay off 1,200 people in Spain.
British multinational telecommunications company Vodafone plans to lay off 1,200 people in Spain and streamline Spain’s employees by 23.5% on January 10th. With Vodafone’s staff in Spain of nearly 5,000, a quarter of Vodafone employees will be fired.
10. US mobile operator Verizon cuts 7% of media business employees
Verizon, the largest US operator, is trying to promote media business, which will affect about 800 jobs in the media business. In October 2018, Verizon had laid off 1/3 of its work. Voluntary severance payments were provided to approximately 44,000 employees, and more than 2,500 IT staff (probably rumored to be close to 5,000) will be transferred to Infosys India as part of their $700 million outsourcing contract.
2018 is a record year for biopharmaceutical companies’ initial public offerings (IPOs). According to data from IPO research firm Renaissance Capital, as of December 17th 2018, a total of 58 US companies raised a record high funding at $6.3 billion . According to Chris Morrison, as of December 8, 2018, except for the IPOs of service companies and medical device companies, a total of 71 biotech companies raised a total of about $8.3 billion in 2018, which is a big step compared to 2014 ($6.3 billion). A share market in china have 105 IPO companies and 8 bio-pharmaceutical companies.
The capital market is hot, and the biomedical industry is still making frequent layoffs.
1. US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer lays off 1,700 employees
In early 2019, Pfizer announced that its product demand will decline, it will close two non-patent injection production plants in India, and will close the Hospira R&D lab in Taramani, involving approximately Pfizer employees. 6% of the global production line, affecting about 1,700 employees. At the same time, Pfizer’s Hospira R&D lab in Taramani will also be closed, with 150 employees facing layoffs or job adjustments.
2. Lilly abolished 250 jobs
The US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company announced on January 8 that it will abolish its factory in Strasbourg, eastern France, in the form of a “voluntary separation plan”. Approximately 250 jobs, thereby reducing wages at the factory. The company has about 1,400 employees at this factory. This means that the company’s layoffs will affect about 20% of employees.
3. AstraZeneca cuts 210 people
On January 11th 2018, British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced that it will close two biologics factories in Colorado, USA, and lay off 210 people. AstraZeneca stated that the layoffs were aimed at further streamlining its biopharmaceutical product supply chain system. At the same time, AstraZeneca also said that this is part of its current global restructuring.
Affected by artificial intelligence technology, companies in the global banking, asset management, and insurance sectors have been laid off.
1. BlackRock will lay off 500 people, accounting for 3% of its global employees.
The world’s largest asset management company, BlackRock, is laying off 3% of its global employees, or about 500 employees. This is the number of layoffs since 2016. The biggest one. The company also plans to adopt new technologies more widely to reduce operating costs.
2. Trustee bank giant Daofu is laying off 1,500 people, increasing dependence on technology
On January 19th 2019, custodian giant State Street will lay off 1,500 people in high-cost areas. The number of layoffs accounted for about 6% of the company’s total workforce, of which senior management decreased by 15%.
3. Santander Bank cuts 800 jobs in the UK
As more and more customers start using digital and mobile banking, the physical office and bank counters are disconnected at the same time. Santander announced that it will close 140 in January. The branch is located in the UK and employs approximately 800 employees. 1,270 staff members may be affected, and one third of the employees will be rescheduled to new positions.
4. Bit mainland is smashed by 50%
Bitland played a roller coaster game, earning $1 billion from the year to 50% of layoffs.
In addition to the large layoffs in the automotive industry, the Internet technology industry, the biomedical industry, and the financial industry, there are also layoffs in other industries.
1. Anheuser-Busch InBev was involved in the layoffs.
The beer industry leader Budweiser InBev was involved in the “reduction of layoffs”. The world’s largest beer company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, is considering the spin-off of its Asian operations. It wants to raise more than US$5 billion to make its entire Asian business worth about US$70 billion. The listing may be Hong Kong.
2.SpaceX layoffs close to 10%
On January 11, SpaceX posted an email to employees, and the company will lay off 10% of its employees. More than 6,000 employees currently work for SpaceX, which means more than 600 people will lose their jobs.
3. Foxconn recruits new employees while laying off employees
On January 18th 2019, Foxconn has laid off about 50,000 Chinese contract workers since October last year. In addition, Zhengzhou Foxconn continued to recruit employees in January this year; starting from the eighth day of the lunar calendar and February 12, recruiting employees every day.
4. Small-scale layoffs in the US media field
On January 23rd 2019, the US heavyweight free online media BuzzFeed plans to lay off 15% of its workforce, involving about 200 people. In addition, after Internet media company Vice Media announced 10% layoffs, the US listed publishing company McClatchy also announced layoffs of 450 employees. Relevant data shows that the US media industry has already laid off more than 2,000 people this year .
5. Miners dismissed their employees for the second time since the layoffs in 2015.
On January 30th, global miner Anglo American fired 180 workers in Los Bronces, the flagship copper mine in central Chile.
06 shoplifting tide accompanied by the tide of layoffs
The global layoffs followed by the store trend. On January 10th, H&M, the world’s second-largest clothing chain in the industry, announced that it would permanently close six stores in Spain in the first quarter of this year, affecting 145 workers.
In November 2018, the UK’s high street apparel retailer NEW LOOK officially announced its withdrawal from the Chinese market and will close more than 120 stores in China this year. During the peak period, the number of NEW LOOK stores in China was as high as 148.
In May 2018, Martha’s, the UK’s largest clothing retailer, said that in order to reduce redundant sales space and cut costs, the number of stores closed before 2022 will be expanded to 100 stores, an increase of 14 than originally planned.
In 2018, 25 Chinese tire companies went bankrupt and disbanded, and orders in the fourth quarter fell sharply. On August 2nd, Yongtai Group, which mainly produces tires and body panels, filed for bankruptcy liquidation and officially declared bankruptcy. Yongtai Group has entered the top 75 global tire industry rankings and was selected as one of the top 500 Chinese chemical companies in 2016, ranking 70th. In the first half of 2018, about 2,700 retail stores in the UK have closed down, with an average of 14 closed down every day.
In addition, some companies have been exposed to actions such as shrinking strokes, cutting travel expenses, and lowering year-end awards. On January 18th, Alibaba postponed some recruitment and cut some travel expenses. Huawei said that the overall situation is not good, and that some of the worthless work is cut and abandoned, and the organization is streamlined. French Industrial Bank’s securities trading business revenue fell sharply by 20% in 2018, and its performance did not meet expectations. The bank plans to dissolve its proprietary trading department and cut traders’ year-end bonuses, a drop of 25%. UBS and BNP Paribas also announced last week that they would cut their salaries for employees, with UBS paying a 20% pay cut.
The layoffs are the most extensive since the 2015 layoffs, which have penetrated into various countries and major industries. According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the employment situation in 2018 remained generally stable and steady. The number of new jobs in urban areas was 13.61 million, an increase of 100,000 over the same period of the previous year. The national registered unemployment rate at the end of the year was 3.8%, down to recent years.
