American Express To Cut Almost 10% Of Their Workforce; Boeing Will Cut 40% of Workforce At El Paso, Texas

Specifically: 8.5%.

5,400 jobs.

Link here to Yahoo!News.

Again, according to "anonymous," the unemployment numbers are lagging indicators.

This was the first few paragraphs:

The steps will cost the company about $600 million in charges in the fourth quarter after taxes, which will halve its net income.

Nearly $300 million of the charges are to cover restructuring, primarily in its travel division, to save money and adapt to the fact that customers increasingly book travel online and on their mobile phones instead of with travel agents.

The other half of the charges are for higher costs from customers redeeming more rewards for spending with cards, as well as $153 million of payments to reimburse customers that were overcharged or short-changed benefits.

But then this. I would have missed it had I not read it:

American Express tends to cut staff at the beginning of recessions. 

This time it's different.

But CEO Kenneth Chenault, speaking to stock analysts after the announcement Thursday, said spending with its cards continues to grow.

"This is not driven by our view of the macro environment," he said.

The company said the job cuts will happen over the year and come even as it hires some new employees and invests in more online customer service. The current workforce of 63,500 people will be about 4 to 6 percent smaller by the end of 2013.

Okay. 

Seriously: I have maintained for quite some time job losses in many cases are due to tectonic changes in our culture, and this explains some of the cuts at American Express. I was surprised to see that it has taken this long for AMEX to cut personnel in its travel agent offices.

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Meanwhile, over at Boeing at El Paso, Texas: Boeing to cut 40 percent of workforce.

Boeing Co said it will cut a little more than 40 percent of jobs, or 160 positions, at its El Paso plant as it looks to reduce the impact of planned U.S. defense budget cuts.

The company said it will reduce occupied square footage 50 percent at the plant by moving from three buildings to one. The plant in Texas manufactures electronics for a variety of Boeing products.

Again, another lagging indicator. I'm beginning to get worried about the leading indicators.