We got a reminder very close to home yesterday that even though the recession might technically be over, the hard times aren't. Johnson & Johnson announced it was planning to lay off more than 8,000 workers, and even though most of them are expected to be away from the New Brunswick headquarters, it's chilling that one of New Jersey's major employers is still shedding workers.
It's also a reminder that the improvement we've been seeing lately in the jobless figures has resulted from the fact that the number of people losing their jobs has been getting smaller. We haven't seen any growth in employment yet, and we may be a long way from seeing it.
J&J CEO William Weldon tried to put a brave face on all of this and said the move was an attempt to position the company to invest in itself and get even stronger at some point in the future. But he alluded to one of the key issues we've faced in this recovery when he admitted: "Until we get unemployment under control and people feel safe and comfortable, I don't think people are going to be spending in areas where they've spent previously." He said this, mind you, at the exact moment his company was adding to the unemployment numbers.
But he's right: Consumer spending won't really grow until more people have jobs. Jobs won't grow until consumers are able to start spending more. It's a maddening problem.
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