 CEOs of the 50 U.S. firms that cut the most jobs during the recession earned 42% more than the average S&P 500 firm CEO, according to a study released by a liberal think tank in Washington.
The study also found that 36 of the 50 layoff leaders announced their layoffs at a time of positive earnings reports, suggesting a trend of squeezing workers to boost profits and to maintain high CEO pay. When CEOs cut jobs they are often very richly rewarded.
No Wall Street banks were included in this list, but three banks (Bank Of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan) were on the list of the 50 firms that laid off the most employees.
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 Despite President Obama’s pledge to retain hi-tech jobs in the U.S., the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched a $36 million campaign to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia, InformationWeek reports. Later we learned that USAID also launched a similar program in Armenia.
After their training, the tech workers will be hired by outsourcing vendors that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the low labor costs.
Under President Obama’s appointee director Rajiv Shah, USAID will partner with private outsourcers in other countries to teach workers advanced IT skills like Enterprise Java (Java EE) programming, as well as business process outsourcing and call center support. USAID will also help them improve their English language skills.
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 Getting laid off is never fun. But some people are so wrapped up in their work identity that they see it as a personal attack. This is almost never the case. Most of the time, it is simply a business decision. Many people have been at the same job for years, and have made themselves quite at home. While this may work out well, in the event of a layoff, this will leave you with less personal resources, especially if you depended on your workplace for things like email and professional development. The following are some ideas for what you can do to claim back your identity and get back on your feet.
1. Make sure you have good working email and social network profiles. Don’t laugh; many people who have been working at a company since the advent of email use their work email for everything. If you’ve only been using your work email, set up a Gmail account on Google or a Yahoo or Hotmail account. It’s free and you’ll need it. If you don’t have a profile on LinkedIn, get one. If you do have one on that or any other professional site, make sure you update it. Don’t be afraid to state clearly that you are ‘in transition’ and state what you are looking for.
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 For most people, being laid off means a major drop in income, even with unemployment payments and severance pay. It will probably take more than passing up lattes and renting fewer videos to make ends meet. Here are a few suggestions for saving hundreds of dollars each month:
1. Look at Your Car Insurance
As the commercials say, “Are you paying too much for car insurance?” If you have an older car that is paid off, it may not make sense to buy collision insurance. If the Blue Book value of your car is low compared to your insurance premiums you are probably paying more for collision insurance than you will get back if the car is totaled.
If your car is fairly new, you may want to increase your deductible to lower your insurance costs. After all, you are probably driving a lot less while you are out of work.
2. Talk to your credit card company
Many credit card companies have special payment plans for those who are unemployed. For example, Capital One will waive late fees and allow you to pay only the interest on your balance for three months.
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 Navigating today’s job market is becoming a real challenge for many graduating college students. Finding a promising internship is one of the best ways to landing a full-time job and it is not just students who are looking for internship these days. Many laid-off workers are exploring volunteering and internship opportunities that may lead to full time jobs. We have written about volunteering and today we would to present some of the best internships in the U.S. as rated by recent interns:
General Electric (GE)
- Location: Fairfield, Connecticut
- Number of internship positions: 2,300
- Pay: $2,400 to $4,800 /month
- Benefits: Academic Credit, Housing & Relocation Assistance, Free Parking, Vacation Time.
- Length: 10 - 12 weeks or 4 - 6 months depending on the program
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