April 1st, 2009 | 
Author: A report just out from the payroll giant, ADP (Automatic Data Processing) says that the drop in its Employer Services gauge was larger than the 663,000 jobs that economists had forecast, and was the most since records began in 2001. Its February’s reading was revised upwards to show a cut of 706,000 workers from a previous estimate of 697,000.
The figures were compiled by the forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, using ADP payroll data from 400,000 businesses and it covered around 24 million workers.
The ADP report showed a reduction of 327,000 workers in goods-producing industries, and employment in manufacturing dropped by 206,000 whilst service providers cut 415,000 jobs.
A Labor Department report that is due out April 3 is expected to show that payrolls at companies and government agencies shrank by 658,000 in March, and that unemployment rose to a 25-year high of 8.5 percent.
Details in the ADP report show that companies which employed more than 499 workers reduced their workforces by 128,000 jobs; medium-sized businesses that employed between 50 to 499 employees, cut 330,000 jobs and smaller companies reduced their payrolls by laying off 284,000 people.
In related news, President Barack Obama says that he believes that a quick, negotiated bankruptcy is the most realistic and likely way for General Motors Corp. to restructure itself, and to become a competitive automaker. He also said that he is prepared to let Chrysler LLC go bankrupt and to be sold off piecemeal if it’s unable to form an alliance with Fiat SpA.
If GM files for bankruptcy it will mark the fall of a corporate symbol that in 1962 controlled 51% of the domestic car market, and in 2004 posted a $2.8 billion profit, after which it all went wrong and it posted losses of $82 billion in the last four years.
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Posted in auto sales, automakers, bailout, bankruptcy, Chrysler, crisis, economy, finance, financial, financial crisis, financial system, GM, job losses, Obama, politics, Unemployed, Unemployment, unemployment rate | 
Tags: auto sales, automakers, bailout, bankruptcy, Chrysler, crisis, economy, finance, financial, financial crisis, financial system, GM, job losses, Obama, politics, Unemployed, Unemployment, unemployment rate
