Northrop plans layoffs

The L.A. aerospace giant will consolidate its administrative staff in Redondo Beach and El Segundo, resulting in as many as 750 layoffs, the LAT is reporting. That's about 3 percent of the 24,000 people who work at the two units. Aerospace employment levels are sometimes hard to interpret because a company like Northrop has so many individual programs that grow or contract based on government funding. A spokesman tells the Times that the company has more than 850 open positions for skilled, technical jobs in engineering and manufacturing that could offset cuts in administrative jobs. Nonetheless, the layoffs are hardly what the L.A. County economy needs right now, what with the January unemployment rate at 10.5 percent.