Layoff Hurdles Make 9% Unemployment Look Optimistic (HD, S, CAT, IBM, NOV)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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Jobless_lines_picWe have been tracking the layoffs and the weekly jobless claims to figure out what they mean for the economy.  Just this morning we noticed many job cut announcements from companies..   Home Depot (NYSE: HD) just joined in on the layoff parade with the announcement that it will slash some 7,000 jobs.

Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) already announced another 8,000 layoffs today.And the horrible report of an "almost 20%" or 20,000 Caterpillar Inc.(NYSE: CAT) just keeps adding up.

Besides what we covered last week with earnings and layoffs, we havealso heard of cuts at National OilwellVarco (NYSE: NOV) in subsidiary units, and even International BusinessMachines (NYSE: IBM) laid off some people in sales and support jobs.

We do not have any totals on the layoff front, but so far we areat 35,000 over the last hour or so.  If that rate gets sustained bymajor companies in the U.S., then 8.5% or 9% unemployment rate some analysts expect might be optimistic.

Jon C. Ogg
January 26, 2009

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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