Job market

General Electric announced plans on Thursday to ax around a third of its Swiss workforce as the industrial conglomerate responds to a sharp fall in demand for fossil fuel power equipment.

GE aims to cut up to 1,400 jobs in Switzerland where it employs 4,200 people, but said no locations would close. According to French newspaper Les Echos, General Electric will cut 4 500 jobs in Switzerland, Germany and the UK. The cuts are associated with businesses, which General Electric acquired from France’s Alstom two years ago.

Chinese factory workers producing toys for major brands like Mattel, Hasbro, and Disney continue to work in grueling conditions, according to a recently published report by the nonprofit China Labor Watch, in collaboration with NGO Solidar Suisse.

Some workers have committed suicide amid work pressure, the report said. While China Labor Watch was investigating the Early Light Toy Factory in Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, which manufactures toys, clothing, and travel accessories for major brands like Big Lots, Hasbro, Mattel, Costco, and Wal-Mart, two workers jumped from buildings. The organization reports the case of Yang Zongfang, 38, who was fired after violating a factory rule forbidding workers from allowing other people to use their entry card, and Lin Jinhua, 34, who tried to end his life after verbal abuse by a manager.

The eurozone unemployment rate fell to 8.8 percent in October, from 8.9 percent in September. A year ago, the rate was 9.8 percent. The positive data come after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced it was starting to wind down the massive support it has given the 19-member currency zone to help it through the crises of recent years.

After focusing on industries such as coal and weapons, Norway’s $1-trillion sovereign wealth fund is turning its attention to fashion.

Together with UNICEF, the world’s biggest wealth fund is setting up a network with some of the top fashion companies to improve children’s rights, whether they are exploited in the production of garments and shoes or impacted by the industry in other ways.

According to an annual survey by Wall Street recruiting firm Options Group, total compensation for fixed income and equities professionals in the US will be down 7% from last year, on average.

The decline is steeper still for those working in certain business lines, such as credit, rates and cash equities. And there are few bright spots. Only foreign exchange trading (+1%) and those working in electronic markets for fixed income (+7%) and equities (+3%) are expecting to see a pick-up in their compensation.

The chief executive of UBS, Sergio Ermotti, says it is becoming "more and more unlikely" that the bank will move 1,000 staff from London after receiving "regulatory and political clarifications" around Brexit.
The Swiss bank has previously said that around a fifth of its 5,000-strong UK staff were involved in operations dependent on passporting rights that allow financial services to operate across the bloc.

The gender pay gap refers to the difference in pay between men and women are paid for doing exactly the same job. In most cases, women are paid less tha their male counterparts.

Women in the UK stop being paid on 15th October whereas the average cut off date for Europe is 30th October. According to Eurostat, the gap between male and female salaries in the UK is 20 per cent. The disparity means that by 16 October men have already been paid the amount it would take a woman doing the same job a whole year to earn.

Shares in Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. were falling slightly Wednesday after an analyst downgraded the stock, claiming excessive labor costs. Bank of American Merrill Lynch downgraded Chipotle and cut its earnings targets for 2018 and 2019, saying the struggling restaurant chain will have trouble cutting back labor costs any further than it already has.