A friend of mine who has been working in the US as a FE since the sale of BCal. Phoned me a couple of days ago to say that he has been laid off and there is very little liklehood of him being asked back, and that the same situation probably exists all over the US.
He has now decided to come home and retire. In his words "that's the end of FE's, unless you can get on Concorde".
Best wishes to all FE's.