Most layoffs occur in final months of year

Here’s a sobering thought for the Labor Day weekend — if your company is still shedding workers, you’re more likely to be laid off in the final third of the year.

The culprit is next-year planning, when tweaking budgets and business plans often dictates staffing levels, according to a review of job cutting data from 1995 through 2002 by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., the Chicago-based outplacement and research firm.

Average monthly cuts were 80,858 jobs from September through December for those years, compared with 64,914 jobs in the first eight months.

But the data also point to an interesting, popular myth: If a company is downsizing, it’s not hiring. In fact, some of the biggest job cutters could be among the most prodigious recruiters because of the need to fill revamped operations.

Internet

Users deal with bugs

Windows users have been treated to a steady stream of viruses and other bugs exploiting the ubiquitous Microsoft Corp. operating system.

According to a survey of more than 1,000 adults, nearly a third had dealt personally with a computer infection in the past two years. Additionally, more people (43 percent) said they considered their work computers more secure than their machines at home. Only 17 percent said they were less protected from viruses and hackers at work.

The random-dialing telephone survey was conducted last month for Edelman, a public relations firm based in Chicago and New York.

Motley Fool

Name that company

I was born 157 years ago, when two New Englanders prepared bicarbonate of soda for commercial distribution. My flagship brand name evokes limbs and tools. In 1986, more than 100 tons of it was used to clean 99 years of coal tar off the inner copper walls of the Statue of Liberty. Based in New Jersey, I’m involved in specialty chemicals, animal nutrition, and consumer products such as toothpaste, cleansers, deodorizers and home pregnancy tests. My brands include Lambert Kay, Nice’n Fluffy, Xtra, Arrid, Nair, Trojan and First Response. My annual sales top $1 billion. Who am I?