New job cuts at Jaguar, Pfizer, Barclays put doubts on £500-million job rescue plan

15 January 2009

The fortnight-long mayhem unleashed by job axing in the UK reveals  how deep the recession has hit the country and no matter what economic strategies are conjured by the British government, the job gloom has put a question mark on the £500-million job rescue plan announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week. (See:UK unveils £500 million job rescue plan amid losses)

As numbers keep adding on to the unemployment figures, the government's refusal to bail out critical industries, except bailing out British banks who have refused to lend, more jobs are being axed in Britain than previously thought.

Car maker, Jaguar Land Rover, which has been pleading with the UK government not for a bailout money but credit to tide over the present financial crisis, was forced to wield the axe on 450 staff, including 300 managers, freeze salary hikes till October, and delay paying bonuses. With banks reluctant to finance either businr\esses or consumers, auto sales have nose-dived.

Since the beginning of the slump in car sales, Jaguar Land Rover has cut 2,100 jobs, while last week, Japanese car maker, Nissan cut 1,200 jobs in Sunderland, which is nearly a quarter of its workforce in the UK.

Barclays, which managed to successfully avoid taking governments bailout money and secured £7.3-billion from Middle Eastern governments, (See: Barclays shuns UK bailout loan in favour of Middle East money) had cut 2,130 jobs in its investment banking and investment management divisions on Monday, ysterday announced that it was shedding a further 2,100 at its retail, commercial banking and credit card units .

Last week the bank had laid off more than 400 staff from its IT offices in Cheshire, Northampton and London.