On the heels of the "308,000 new jobs created in March", corporate America has been displaying its rapier sense of irony. In the past five business days…
Gateway – closing all retail stores, cutting 2,500 jobs
Sun Microsystems – 3,300 layoffs announced on Thursday
Bank of America – 12,500 management-level positions eliminated today
Thomson – 600 research & development jobs eliminated
SBC Ameritech – 4000 layoffs announced in December begin taking effect
IBM – 4700 layoffs announced in early January begin taking effect
Todd Pacific – nation's largest ocean shipping company fires 500
Washington Mutual Insurance – 200 more layoffs bring their total since August to 7,400
Raytheon – makers of the Patriot missile can 72 administrative workers effective April 1
MCI Telecom – Announce 4000 layoffs, blaming "do-not-call" lists for reducing call center staff
Lockheed Martin – 45 administrative layoffs, effective immediately
Axicom Database Solutions – 230 jobs terminated, tipping the balance for the company's overseas workforce (6,430) to outnumber the domestic (6,388)
Wayne County – Detroit, Michigan announces off 2300 city employees, including 900 public school teachers, will be laid off effective July 1.
Mellon Financial Services – 300 jobs moved from Everett, WA to India. Everett city leaders investigating the possibility of suing the company.
Kraft Foods – announce that 400 Niles, IL factory jobs will be eliminated on January 1.
Johnson Controls – manufacturing giant announced that 1,065 factory jobs in Kentucky and Wisconsin will be moved to Mexico in July
Steelcase Inc – world's #1 office furniture manufacturer eliminates 9,300 jobs worldwide
EMI Records – 1500 jobs eliminated, including Jacksonville, IL manufacturing facility
That's IN THE LAST FIVE FUCKING DAYS, PEOPLE.
But you would be a fool, and possibly a terrorist, to overlook the tremendous gains the economy made in the crucial "grocery baggers returning to work after a strike" and "migrant fruit pickers" industries, which collectively "created" 203,000 jobs during March.
See, all that matters is the aggregate number of jobs, you silly pinko. If a million people lose a million well-paid jobs but the economy responds by creating a million menial, service-industry, minimum wage, no-benefits jobs, then we didn't really lose any jobs at all.
Oh, and here's one of the links (along with cnbc.com) that provided this information.
Have a nice day.