Seven months ago, we saw Bombardier ($TSX:BBD.A) stock fall after CEO Alain M. Bellemare told investors that money generated from selling a Toronto manufacturing plant would help meet cash flow estimates for the year.
Now, the company is consolidating its aviation unit into one division and selling another plant in Belfast. All the while, job listings at the company are once again losing altitude.
In total, Bombardier saw a net job opening decrease of 58.22% over the past seven month.
Two weeks before it closed its Toronto plant, the plane and train manufacturer announced it would cut 5,000 jobs over the next 12 to 18 months. With not one, but two sharp declines in job openings, it appears this change in headcount is taking effect.
Problems with hiring aren't just unique to Bombardier, however. One of its biggest competitors, Boeing ($BA), is also facing headwinds due to its new MAX jets, as we covered last week. It experienced a slight rebound since then, but hiring is still trending downwards in looking at month-over-month change.
With the Federal Aviation Administration now experiencing increased pressure from politicians, the general public, and media after the MAX crashes, airplane manufacturers will be under a microscope both on regulatory efforts and, especially for current and potential investors, on Wall Street.
There is a big sign of hope for Bombardier in all of this: when we last covered the company's struggles in November, the number of job openings was the lowest it had since late 2016. Jobs that were for engineers or were involved in engineering took one of the largest hits, peaking at 389 individual openings on October 18 and falling to just 198 in that drop.
Now, the number of individual listings at the company for such positions is back over 200, rocketing past 250 earlier this month before settling above the slump line.
Bombardier is still in the middle of a five-year plan to turn around its fortunes after being on the brink of bankruptcy in 2015. But with plant closures, declining job openings, and a falling stock, this five year plan looks to be one that will make Bombardier a smaller organization.
