Broad Round of Job Cuts Hits U.S. Firms --- Weakening Sales, Pricing Amid Increased Wages Prompt Move to Layoffs
That hot U.S. job market? It's getting cooler by the minute.</br></br>After months of low unemployment and intense competition for workers, U.S. companies in a variety of industries have started a round of year-end job cuts. Nearly a dozen big firms have announced staff reductions in the past week in an attempt to bolster profits amid weakening sales and pricing.</br></br>Wall Street felt the jolt on Tuesday, when Merrill Lynch & Co., New York, said it would cut 3,400 jobs, or 5% of its work force. The move had Wall Street employees bracing for cuts at other securities firms. Indeed, the Salomon Smith Barney unit of Citigroup Inc. yesterday laid off 100 traders, salespeople and research analysts in its bond department, people familiar with the firm said. Analysts expect the BT Alex. Brown unit of Bankers Trust Corp., which has significant exposure to Asian markets, to eliminate as much as 10% of its staff of 18,000.</br></br>This round of downsizing is turning out to be surprisingly nondiscriminatory, affecting companies ranging from banks to makers of exercise equipment. Last week, Lexington, Mass., defense contractor Raytheon Co. boosted the total number of jobs it will cut to 14,000, or 16% of its work force, from the 8,700 it said it would cut last January. Los Angeles oil concern Atlantic Richfield Co. jumped in yesterday, announcing it will eliminate 900 jobs, or nearly 5% of its work force. The reason: fears that the global economic slowdown won't reverse itself anytime soon.</br></br>"We've taken a look at what's going on in the world, and we've decided we have a situation that could hang around for a period of time," said Lee Tashjian, an Arco spokesman.