LOS ALAMOS SUBCONTRACTORS SHED ABOUT 800 JOBS

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s subcontractor workforce has shed 800 jobs as a result of lab cutbacks for outside workers, according to a report by the Albuquerque Journal. The numbers come from a survey of lab contractors made public by SOC Los Alamos official Liddie Martinez, an executive with the Los Alamos Major Subcontractors Consortium. Procurements for the lab in Fiscal Year 2012 procurement dropped 31 percent, to $634.8 million, as LANL reduced outside spending in the face of budget cutbacks. The downturn has continued in 2013, with another 10 percent reduction in procurement spending in the first 3 months of the 2013 fiscal year compared to the same period in 2012. In a Feb. 28 sequesters-eve memo to staff, lab director Charlie McMillan said further reductions in contract spending are “on the table” to help the lab cope with the effect of federal budget cuts.