WaMu job losses in Seattle could total thousands

[LUC]

[david_mcmanus]

[Matthew]

I think the downtown condo market is about to take a gigantic nosedive!

MAYDAY MAYDAY!

[perfectfire]

More news. . Bulk of the cuts to be in Seattle due to overlap (so the speculation was probably true). Employees will know what their fate is on Monday.

[deejayoh]

[deejayoh]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

Did WaMu have any contract labor in the Seattle offices? Janitors, auditors, etc...

I don't know how you compare against Boeing. 30,000 jobs is much higher, but those losses were spread throughout the area rather than focused entirely in the deep downtown. The people laid off by Boeing mostly stayed in the area, the highly desirable WaMu employees will probably move to cities that still have banking centers. Also, some number of those Boeing job losses came back in 2004-2006 as they got their act together again. Boeing was still in business, still an ogliopoly, and still producing a product in high demand. WaMu is out of business, operated in a commodity market, and grew their business around a product that now has no demand.

[perfectfire]

The 19,000 number comes straight from the article (and other articles on the same subject). I don't know where they got the number, nor how many of that number are in Seattle/King County/Puget Sound. I guess we'll know for sure on Monday. speculates that around 3000 out of 4200 Seattle employees will be cut. Maybe when the original article said "bulk" they meant that a plurality of the cuts will happen in Seattle. Also note that the original article said "up to" 19000.

[deejayoh]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[jon]

[perfectfire]

Also different between this downturn and the last is that there is no inflating housing bubble to soften the blow.

[perfectfire]

Official now: http://www.nwcn.com/topstories/stories/ ... fdd6f.html

3,400 jobs lost in Seattle.