Black Monday

The Washington Post reports today that US employers cut more than 55,000 jobs yesterday. In just one day!

The New York Times reports that more than 75,000 around the world disappeared yesterday. The Los Angeles Times adds it all up and notes that 187,550 jobs have been slashed so far this month.

USA Today reports that some economists expect that 3 million people will lose their jobs this year.

Caterpillar announced that 15,000 jobs would be eliminated by the end of this week and 5,000 more by the end of the first quarter. Among the other companies that announced job cuts were Sprint Nextel, which shed 8,000; Home Depot, which cut 7,000; and Texas Instruments, which made 3,400 positions disappear. Pfizer announced cuts of 8,000 jobs, General Motors cut 2,000 more.

And it’s not just big companies padding the total. Small companies with up to 49 employees shed 281,000 jobs in December. Medium-size firms with 50 to 499 employees cut 321,000. Large companies with more than 499 workers lost 91,000.

And for an optimistic, upbeat view of the near term, let’s hear from Richard Yamarone, director of economic research for Argus Research in New York: “There is nothing in the economic tea leaves that suggest someone is going to be hiring. This is a broad-based economic slump. From pharma to industrial to housing to telecommunications, every aspect of this economy is in a free fall. There is no safe haven."

Yuh.

So, thinking about going into work today and telling your boss to fuck-off? Might want to put that idea on hold for a while…