Source : PTI

NEW YORK: With every one minute ticking on the clock, the companies from across the world are terminating an average of five positions -- taking the How to stay afloat in your job Pink slip blues total job losses in the first two months of 2009 to about four lakh.

While a few are calling it simply layoffs and terminations, others have nomenclatures like right sizing, voluntary separation packages and workforce optimisation. With the global economic downturn forcing one and all to adopt various cost-cutting measures, firms are estimated to have already cut close to 10 million jobs during 2008, but, with no immediate recovery in sight from the ongoing crisis, more steps are being taken to save every single penny.

However, as a saving grace for the employees, most of the layoffs of 2009 so far happened in January, when a whopping 80,000 job cuts were announced on a single day on January 26, and February has been relatively better.

In February, mining major Anglo American said it would reduce its workforce by 19,000 employees while Japan's Panasonic announced 15,000 jobs cuts.