Global Federal Credit Union has laid off 78 Alaska workers, a result of economic policies from Washington that has created higher interest rates and slowed down borrowing. It’s not because customers quit the credit union after it went “global.” It’s because of trickle down economics and because elections have consequences.
Luckily for those workers, the job availability rate in Alaska is still high. There were over 27,000 job openings in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
The credit union, a member-owned cooperative with more than 5,500 sites available to members in the shared-branch network in all 50 states, has laid off 187 people companywide in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, and Washington. The jobs were primarily in the lending departments.
Headquartered in Anchorage, Global changed its name from Alaska USA Federal Credit Union this year. It is the 17th in the country for asset size, and among the largest credit unions by membership. Global Credit Union has nearly $12 billion in assets.
The credit union system remains well-capitalized and on a solid footing, according to the National Credit Union Administration, created by Congress to monitor, regulate, charter, and supervise federal credit unions. Deposits are insured, just as they are at banks.
But the banking and financial sector in general is suffering from Bidemonics — the policies of the Biden Administration that have driven borrowing rates higher and caused consumers to react by not taking out loans.
A few of the other institutions that have laid off workers this year:
Goldman Sachs Group, headquartered in New York, cut 125 jobs. Announced in February, the layoffs took place in June around the globe, including some in investment banking.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Asia cut 20 investment-banking jobs in Asia as deals fell through, according to Bloomberg.
First Republic Bank, which collapsed earlier this year, was bought by JPMorgan Chase, which notified about 1,000 of the employees that they were being let go.
Bank of America, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., cut 1,000 jobs in April and plans more this year, to control costs. Bank of America will also cut less than 200 jobs in its investment bank, according to American Banker.
PacWest Bancorp laid off around 200 employees at subsidiary Civic Financial Services, a residential real estate company it bought during the house-buying boom of 2021.
PenFed Credit Union, the third-largest credit union, cut 569 jobs earlier this year. That was 14% of its workforce, a result of the falling loan business coming from high interest rates.
