Ad agencies slash jobs, investors hammer stocks; WPP buys Taylor Nelson Sofres, expanding market-research holdings; WPP also gets rid of its 'Group' in tax-saving reorg.(Agencies)(Brief article)

Advertising Age, December, 2008

A brief history of ad agency economics: U.S. agency employment reached its all-time peak (207,400) in August 2000, four months before ad spending's dot-com-bubble peak.

Media spending began to recover in May 2002, but agency employment didn't hit its post-bubble nadir until January 2004 (164,200), a loss of 43,200 jobs, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Employment then rebounded to an October 2007 business-cycle peak of 188,600-recovering more than half of agencies' job losses-two months before the start of the ...