Job cuts

Corporate executives stick to a script when pulling the layoff lever: Cite the tough economic landscape, promise that employees will remain the firm's most valued asset, insist that there was no other option to protect the company's future. Here's why you shouldn't buy what corporate America's selling when it comes to life-ruining layoffs.

Lots of companies are laying off workers, trying to cut costs and improve their profit margins. But how should investors view the news of job cuts at a company? As a sign of deep trouble and worse to come, or as proof of committed management and better times ahead? Here's how to read the pink slips.

As the creation of new jobs slows and layoffs continue, small businesses keep hiring. ADP is betting those companies will continue to buck the trend. It's setting up new services to capitalize on that growth.

Massive layoffs were both a cause and a symptom of the recent recession, but job creation began to revive late last year. Unfortunately, in May, the U.S. added only 58,000 jobs, and layoffs may be on the rise again. This time, they're taking a particular toll on state and local government workers.

Of all the industries that have achieved record profits recently, none have posted more remarkable results than the airline industry. For the first time in a decade, the industry is on a glide path to profitability -- but it's getting there by squeezing its customers.

The U.S. is hardly alone in losing work to cheaper skilled labor in foreign countries. Australia, Canada and Israel, among others, have dropped off Gartner's list of the top 30 countries for outsourcing. Here's where IT and business-processing jobs are heading.

The TJX Companies announced Friday that it was shutting down its A.J. Wright brand, converting 91 of its 162 stores to those of its other brands -- T.J. Maxx, Marshalls or HomeGoods -- and closing the rest. The move will eliminate 4,400 jobs, about half of them part-time positions.

State Street Corp. (STT) plans to cut 1,400 jobs and reduce real estate costs as near zero interest rates eat into profit. The job cuts represent about 5% of the bank's workforce, Bloomberg News said. The measures should save the company as much as $625 million a year by the end of 2014. State...

The jobs market gained steam in October as companies added 151,000 jobs - the largest amount since May. Despite the better-than-expected gains, the unemployment rate remained steady at 9.6%.

Companies that develop medicines have been bleeding jobs in the last few months, with three -- Biogen Idec, Charles River Laboratories and NicOx -- announcing about 1,000 new workforce cuts this week. When will the bleeding stop?