Citigroup Layoffs: 50,000 Job Cuts

VOA reports on Citigroup layoffs and job cuts.

Two new reports give even more evidence that the economy is in trouble Monday, as Washington debates whether or not to help the ailing U.S. auto industry. A major U.S. bank Citigroup says it is about to layoff 50,000 people (the job cuts amout 14 percent of its workforce), and manufacturing in New York state, a key region, has been hit hard by the economic downturn.

News reports say Citigroup, the fourth-largest U.S. bank, plans to cut about 14 percent of jobs and cut its expenses by 20 percent.

A separate report from the U.S. central bank says manufacturing in New York shrank at the fastest pace in seven years during November.

Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers are set to debate whether to help the struggling auto industry and prevent the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Democratic lawmakers advocate using $25 million of a $700-billion emergency economic rescue plan to help the three major U.S. automakers: General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said today President George Bush supports helping the auto industry, but does not want that help to come from the rescue plan.

Instead, the Bush administration is proposing the Energy Department give the automakers a $25-billion loan.

President-elect Barack Obama said in an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes Sunday, the government will have to spend money now to stimulate the economy, without worrying about the deficit in the next couple of years.

Japan's economy is officially in a recession.

Official data released today show the world's second-largest economy contracted by one-tenth of one percent in the three months ending in September.

This marks the second quarter in a row that Japan's economy has experienced a decline - there was a nine-tenths-percent contraction between April and June.

The world financial crisis has wreaked havoc on the world's major economies. Japan is now in its first recession since 2001.

Recession is most often defined as two consecutive three-month periods of negative economic growth.

Last week, the European Union said 15 nations that use the euro as their currency are officially in a recession. And many experts believe the U.S. economy is headed into recession -- it contracted by three-tenths of one percent in July and September.

The leaders of the so-called G-20 (Group of 20) industrialized and developing countries resolved at a summit in Washington Saturday to take whatever further actions are necessary to stabilize the global financial system.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters. Reported by VOA.