City in front line as the jobs cull spreads

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Much of the misery was felt in London, where Merrill Lynch and its new owner Bank of America are preparing to axe about 1900 staff in one of the biggest single culls in the history of the City.

The combined firm is looking to shed 30% of its workforce in London with many staff told to reapply for their jobs last week.

Merrill employs 4500 in its European headquarters at St Paul's, while Bank of America has 1700 working in the capital. The cuts are part of a plan to cut between 30,000 and 35,000 people worldwide.

The pain went beyond the City, however, with job losses and potential layoffs announced at a host of businesses ranging from engineering to retail.

SIG, the insulation and roofing materials group base din Sheffield, expanded its closure programme to 80 branches from 65, resulting in 1000 job losses, 100 more than announced in November.

Georg Fisher, the engineering group whose UK operations are based in Coventry, said it was cutting some 340 jobs or 2.5% of its global workforce, as it fights to remain profitable during the shocking downturn in the global car market.

AP Driveline Technologies, a specialist car parts engineer in Leamington Spa collapsed into administration putting nearly 240 jobs at risk.

Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos and Homebase, said today it would be axing 210 jobs at a Manchester distribution centre.

McLeish Brothers, an upmarket Scottish delicatessen chain, called in the administrators today with the loss of 175 jobs.

Almost 25,000 jobs have been lost in Britain this month already — many at Woolworths — with unemployment set to rise towards three million this year.

Analysts reckon about 28,000 jobs went in the City last year with another 34,000 set to go in 2009.

Citigroup is reducing its global headcount by 52,000 while Commerzbank, Nomura, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Scotland are also wielding the axe.