5 U.S. Companies Laying Off The Most Workers This Year

Pink is usually October’s couleur du mois as numerous foundations band together for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

But this year, it’s coming in the form of tens of thousands of pink slips.

24/7 Wall St.’s Alexander E.M. Hess and Michael B. Sauter collected the top 10 U.S. companies cutting jobs in a post this week, and, at least, the top two won’t surprise anyone.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is saddled with up to $11 billion of settlement expenses with the federal government over subprime mortgage probes.

J.C. Penney Company, Inc.’s (NYSE:JCP) struggled to rally back from a disastrous store revamp that led to major executive reshufflings, all the way to the top office.

Here are the first five companies laying off the most employees. Head over to 24/7 Wall St. for the full list.

1. JPMorgan Chase & Co.

a. Job cuts: 19,000

b. Total number of employees: 254,063

c. Stock price change so far this year: Up 15.7 percent

d. Reason for cuts: JPMorgan announced plans earlier this year to cut back on its consumer banking staff by about 4,000. Then, more recently, the company announced it would lay off 15,000 workers in the mortgage division, responsible for what the federal government said were predatory lending practices. Now, the bank may have to pay more than $11 billion to settle a federal investigation.

2. J.C. Penney Company, Inc.

a. Job cuts: 15,020

b. Total number of employees: 116,000

c. Stock price change so far this year: Down 60.6 percent

d. Reason for cuts: The Plano, Texas-based department store chain is struggling. Big time. Just read International Business Times’ previous coverage on this, this, this or this.

3. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)

a. Job cuts: 9,400

b. Total number of employees: 434,246

c. Stock price change so far this year: Down 6.7 percent

d. Reason for cuts: A drop in sales during IBM’s first quarter spurred the company to cut between 6,000 and 8,000 jobs worldwide, but mostly outside the U.S. But domestic employees felt the pinch when the company laid off more than 3,300 in the U.S. and Canada and furloughed much of the hardware staff, 24/7 Wall St. reported.

4. The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA)

a. Job cuts: 5,800

b. Total number of employees: 174,400

c. Stock price change so far this year: Up 53.2 percent

d. Reason for cuts: Facing problems with its 787 Dreamliner, the company’s widely touted new commercial jet, Boeing said in March it would cut 2,300 machinist jobs. But recently, the company cut another 3,000 jobs after the U.S. military trimmed its order of C-17 transportation jets.

5. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

a. Job cuts: 5,400

b. Total number of employees: 63,500

c. Stock price change so far this year: up 25.6 percent

d. Reason for cuts: The company is restructuring. First, it cut thousands of jobs in its travel division as an increasing number of customers go online for travel booking. Then, the company announced it would sell its publishing division to Time Inc., which plans to spin off from Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) into a separate magazine company next year.