French Bank Société Générale announces job cuts after profit slump (5/7/13)

The French bank, Société Générale, plans to cut more than a thousand jobs after reporting that the first-quarter net profit fell by half to 364 million euros.  This cut will call for the loss of about 550 jobs at the bank's headquarters in Paris.  The bank employs over 150,000 people throughout the world including 60,000 in France.  

This series of job cuts may result in a decrease of the national GDP of France as well as in other countries.  In all countries where the bank's jobs will be cut, there will be a decrease in consumption due to less money in the people's pockets.  On the other hand, the bank plans to invest 600 million euros which should balance out the changes in GDP in France.  I would not expect this to really effect the GDP too much because I expect the bank to get back to where it was and the economy should strengthen.  It will be interesting to observe any drastic changes in the economy due to the sudden increase of unemployment.  

What led to this situation was the decrease in money made by the bank.  The bank looks at those 154,000 jobs as expenses and the bank wants to decrease that expense so that they can get back to making more money.  I feel that this will only work if the bank also goes through with the investment part of the move.  The bank needs to change its ways so that they do not continue to lose profit.  The bank currently does have plans for a new program that would involve restructuring and the 600 million euro investment.  I am not really familiar with any policies associated with the bank situation in France or exactly how the bank system works unfortunately.  

Article: http://www.english.rfi.fr/france/20130507-french-bank-societe-generale-announces-job-cuts-after-profit-slump