Business Notes Employment

Never mind that Christmas is fast approaching. Many American companies have decided they can wait no longer to slash labor costs. In quick succession last week, three major U.S. firms announced layoffs. GM said it will significantly restructure its operations but won't disclose the actual number of job cuts until this week. Industry experts predict as many as 35,000 employees, or about 9% of GM's work force, may be gone by 1993. TRW, the defense and credit- reporting firm, plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or 14% of its payroll, during the next 18 months. And Xerox will lay off 2,500 workers, or some 2.5%, by mid- 1992.

The latest wave of cutbacks follows similar steps by IBM, Citicorp and Kodak. Wall Street usually hails such moves, since they help shore up corporate profits. But economists worry that the deterioration in the job market will compound the recession by making consumers too nervous to shop.

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