Company Layoffs Accelerate as Recovery Appears Elusive
General Electric, Airbnb, Uber among employers planning job cuts
Corporate America unveiled another wave of job cuts and warned of additional reductions, as executives signal they are resigned to a lengthy coronavirus-induced economic downturn.
This past week, General Electric Co., Uber Technologies Inc. and Airbnb Inc. said they would lay off thousands of workers. MGM Resorts International warned that some of the 63,000 employees it has furloughed may be let go permanently starting in August. Aerospace supplier Raytheon Technologies Corp., job-listings site Glassdoor and United Airlines Holdings Inc. also said in the past week that they had reduced jobs or planned to do so.
“Our airline—and our entire workforce—will have to be smaller than it is today,” Kate Gebo, United’s executive vice president of human resources, wrote in a recent memo to employees about the company’s plans to potentially trim at least 30% of managers and administrative staffers starting in October. Other carriers are expected to reduce staff as demand for air travel remains historically low.
The burst of job-cut announcements two months after officials moved to shut the economy to halt the spread of the coronavirus indicates many companies are bearing down for a sustained slowdown as the economy searches for traction. Some are also using the moment to accelerate strategic shifts. In April, payrolls fell by a record 20.5 million, erasing a decade of job gains.
MORE than 12,000 Catholic churches applied for PPP loans meant to hold small businesses together in the US.
Three in four had them granted as small businesses are forced to make life-changing and devastating decisions over their futures after being denied the money that was specifically meant for them.
Between 12,000 and 13,000 of the 17,000 US Catholic churches applied for PPP loans, denying the lifeline meant for millions in their communities.
The study found that the larger the church, the more likely it was to have applied for federal aid.
Churches of all faiths have been advised to assess their needs as most technically qualify for PPP, but the move is causing a crisis of morality considering Jesus’ teachings and the unregulated wealth held by the Vatican.
The much-needed loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program has already seen national chains soak up millions of dollars meant for smaller fish.
This sparked an outcry among Americans on behalf of the millions of businesses it was meant for but who have been shut out.
Pat Markey, the executive director of the Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference, an association of finance officers from Catholic dioceses, estimates that around 6,000 Catholic parishes had their applications for federal funding approved in the first round of PPP and around 3,000 have received loans so far in the second round, according to CBS.