How 2020 is turning out to be the year of job cuts

Companies across the board are planning to lay off employees in hundreds and thousands. There is no confidence in the global economic situation.

Now, Coronavirus too is rearing its head, threatening to collapse the world's factory - China. The job cuts have not spared any major economy, including India.  

The global job crisis can turn this year into a year of job cuts. Here's a rundown of the jobs situation across the world:

As the global economy teeters on the recession, last year's press releases on cost-cutting are turning into this year's pink slips.

2020 is turning out to be the year of job cuts. Whatever we may choose to blame it on - Brexit, US-China trade war or the deadly coronavirus. It is certain that there will be fewer jobs in the coming year. Nearly 50 banks across the world will together lay off over 75,000 employees.

HSBC alone is planning to cull 35,000 jobs, Deutsche Bank is planning to get rid of 18,000 employees by 2022. And JP Morgan chase plans to dismiss hundreds of employees this year after letting go nearly 7,000 people in the last four years.

All this in an attempt to slash costs. There is one more reason - with banks going digital, consumer-facing executives have become dead-weight.

And it's not just banks, the auto industry is on a bumpy road.

WATCH: Is 2020 the year of job cuts? 

The once-resilient German auto industry today resembles the now sleepy town of Detroit - the city that marks the fall of the US auto industry.

Globally, more than 5,00,000 auto-related jobs were shed last year. Nearly 1,00,000 auto workers have lost their jobs in Germany.

With the maker of Mercedes cars - Daimler - culling 10,000 jobs recently, now, Renault is planning to cut 20,000 jobs in Germany alone.

Agreed, there is a massive shift to electric vehicles. But, US President Donald Trump's trade war made it worse - Jaguar Land Rover's sales in China plummeted. The Indian-owned British luxury carmaker is now looking to cut 500 jobs at its Halewood plant in the UK.

While the trade-war was seemingly cooling off, the deadly coronavirus has led to the shutdown of factories in China.
 
Cutting off auto component supplies to factories in Europe, 80,000 auto workers may lose their jobs this year.

Closer home, Bosch is planning to cut thousands of jobs in India as the domestic auto industry shows no signs of recovery.

And if Vodafone, Idea fail to gather enough money to pay off its dues to the government, over 13,000 people could lose their jobs.

Even the state-run BSNL and MTNL could not remain bloated. Nearly 93,000 employees were given the golden handshake. 

While startups keep mushrooming, unicorns like Oyo, Paytm and Uber are shedding flab in India.

IT employees in India, especially mid-to-senior level staff, stand the risk of losing their jobs.

As most firms are likely to lay off over 5-8 per cent of the total workforce in the coming quarters which translates to about 10,000-20,000 employees in each large firm.