Reading another job cut on the news is now the norm in business particularly in the Oil & Gas industry. This norm became a common task for Human Resources since the beginning of 2013. After three (3) years, it still continues. Nobody knows when will it ever stop.
- https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/25/shell-cut-jobs-low-oil-prices-north-sea
- https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/12/bp-job-cuts-low-oil-prices
- http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/oil-crisis-halliburton-cut-5000-more-jobs-amid-declining-crude-prices-1546136
- http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35289771
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/11806188/Oil-price-crash-claims-1000-jobs-in-North-Sea.html
- http://fortune.com/2016/05/04/shell-cut-jobs-profits-oil-prices/
- http://www.cipd.asia/people-management-magazine/hr-news-opinion/petronas-cut-jobs-malaysia
- http://in.reuters.com/article/shell-redundancies-idINKCN0YG1IM
- http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/05/us-job-cuts-rise-to-65141-in-april-2016-layoffs-at-7-year-high-challenger.html
- http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/04/us-layoffs-hit-75114-in-jan-surging-to-6-month-high-challenger.html
- http://fortune.com/2015/10/02/biggest-layoffs-2015/
- http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/15/news/economy/america-job-killing-companies/
In the US, more than 50% of the job-cuts is attributed to the low oil prices which one way or another was actually instigated by the boom of US shale oil production. Shale oil flooded the market that even OPEC which has controlled the oil prices for decades since the oil embargo in the 70’s failed to foresee. OPEC sole dependcy on oil revenue has created chaos in their countries particularly Venezuela and Nigeria. The thought of diversification for these countries is now too late but never to late for the next wave of oil price crash.
Many old timers in the oil & gas industry are saying how resilient the oil & Gas industry is. It overcame lots of turmoil in the past, it will be able to recover again. And by then, the industry will be much wiser.
When the recovery happens is still considered a light at the end of the tunnel. Despite the bullish oil prices for the past couple of weeks, it did not have an immediate impact in the industry particularly on job cuts which still continue. Anybody’s job is still hanging on a thread.