Bloody Monday: Over 71,400 jobs lost

[Mark Kerr]

Six companies announce massive job cuts in a scary start to the week.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The final week of January began with a bloodbath for the job market, as more than 50,000 more cuts were announced on Monday alone.

At least six companies from manufacturing and service industries announced cost-cutting initiatives that included slashing thousands of jobs.

About 170,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, according to company reports. Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945.

"It's all about the consumer, and the consumer's been hit hard," said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. "It's a vicious circle as weakness begets layoffs, which beget more spending weakness."

Construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) said Monday it will cut 20,000 jobs amid a "very challenging global business environment." The company had already planned to cut 15,000 workers since the fourth quarter of 2008, but added another 5,000, bringing the total to 20,000.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S, Fortune 500) will cut a total of about 8,000 jobs by March 31, the company said in a release. The telecommunications company's plan is to reduce internal and external labor costs by about $1.2 billion on an annual basis.

Home Depot (HD, Fortune 500), the world's largest home improvement retailer, announced Monday it will eliminate its EXPO design center business and cut 7,000 associates, or approximately 2% of the company's total workforce. The company blamed a lack of demand for big ticket design and decor projects.

Dutch financial group ING said Monday it will take a 2008 loss of $1.3 billion and cut 7,000 jobs. The company could not comment on where the cuts would take place. ING employs around 130,000 people across 50 countries.

Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) said in an earnings report it would cut 10% of its staff of 81,900 and close five of its manufacturing plants. The drugmaker recently announced that it was cutting up to 8% of its research staff, or up to 800 jobs. The company already cut 4,700 jobs in 2008.

Deere& Co. (DE, Fortune 500) , the world's top farm-equipment maker, said it would cut nearly 700 jobs between factories in Brazil and Iowa.

The job cuts across sectors didn't surprise Brusca, as nearly all are weak, he said.

"The services sector is shedding jobs at a horrific pace, because that's where most of the jobs are," Brusca said. "When the consumer is in tough shape it's hard for business to do well, because it all depends on consumption or investments."

Continuing the scary trend
The cuts mark a horrific start to the week, and a brutal start to 2009. In the previous week, around 40,000 cuts were announced across multiple industries.

Wednesday, in particular, was littered with a slew of job cuts: BHP Billiton, Clear Channel Communications, Intel, Rohm and Haas Co., UAL Corp. and Williams-Sonoma all announced job cuts totaling over 27,000 positions.

Also last week, Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Entertainment said it would cut about 800 jobs, or 10% of its worldwide staff in the upcoming weeks, while Microsoft unveiled its plan to cut up to 5,000 jobs - 5.5% of its global workforce.

[BM OUT]

How can this be?We have the Lord Obama in there.Everything was supposed to magically improve.

[Mark Kerr]

The number has gone to 68,000.

All in one day.

[liberalismo]

Things will get worse before they get better.

[shootfighter1]

"Things will get worse before they get better"

This is what all the democrats are saying to justify a poor responce to the huge stimulus package they are trying to push through...and they still want to raise taxes on people making 200k+?  People aren't spending $ already.

Not to say that Bush or congress could have done a lot, but this congress sucks.  For over 2 yrs now the democrats have controlled congress and have done nothing to address this situation...even when warned about Freddie, Fanny and the impending banking mess.

[shootfighter1]

Just got my 4th quarter and end of the year business taxes.  It is just obscene how much money the government takes from small business with all their taxes and programs.  Just insane.

How about cutting taxes on small businesses so we can hire more people and not cut so many jobs?  Cut payroll taxes which would benefit the worker and the employer.

The democrats are going to pass this huge stimulus package and guess what....after the economy stabilizes (likely by market forces and not the stimulus), they will complain about the increased deficit and then raise taxes on us again.  You know it will happen.  Stop Spending...stop unnecessary foreign wars, cut programs!

[liberalismo]

"Things will get worse before they get better"

This is what all the democrats are saying to justify a poor responce to the huge stimulus package they are trying to push through...and they still want to raise taxes on people making 200k+?  People aren't spending $ already.

Not to say that Bush or congress could have done a lot, but this congress sucks.  For over 2 yrs now the democrats have controlled congress and have done nothing to address this situation...even when warned about Freddie, Fanny and the impending banking mess.

The Democrats can't do much since there are still leftover Republicans there preventing any work from getting done. This new congress will do better.

[shootfighter1]

But they have had a fairly large majority (even larger now).  Gridlock is bad, but 1 sided government is also bad.
So far, their ideas are horrible on the economy (and Bush went along with them!). 

Have you seen how many non-stimulus items are in the stimulus package?  Irresponsible!  Thats our $.

[liberalismo]

But they have had a fairly large majority (even larger now).  Gridlock is bad, but 1 sided government is also bad.
So far, their ideas are horrible on the economy (and Bush went along with them!). 

Have you seen how many non-stimulus items are in the stimulus package?  Irresponsible!  Thats our $.

1 sided government is good when that is the 1 side that will work to improve things.

What you're talking about is pork. Usually it's the only way to get it passed when so many people aren't on the same page. They need to be bribed with pork.

[Option D]

How can this be?We have the Lord Obama in there.Everything was supposed to magically improve.

He has been in office..Please act like an adult. That was a dumb ass post...

[Mark Kerr]

He has been in office..Please act like an adult. That was a dumb ass post...

No. It's not a dumb post. Obama is acting extremely arrogant and he is green to what is happening to this country. With in 6 hours today 68,000 people lost their jobs. The only thing Obama did today was make it harder for lower to middle income people that can not afford new cars pay more money in repairs to pass an emission test.

Now, the people that own older cars will be putting their money into their older cars instead of buying new cars. Great move for the auto industry.

Wake the fcuk up people. This guy (Obama) is a fcuking idiot.