Pink Slip Parade
Clouds of pink slips are casting a shadow over New and Old Economy workers alike.
On Wednesday, Lucent hung up on 10,000 workers, and said another 6,000 jobs may be lost when the company sells some factory operations.
Whirlpool rinsed out 6,000 employees, and 2,500 AOL-Time Warner workers were hearing "You've got unemployment."
Elsewhere, Sony Electronics said it will lay off 500 workers at a San Diego plant. Springfield, Ohio's International Truck and Engine Corp. plans to lay off about 500 workers in March because of slow truck sales.
While the Federal Reserve said last week that laid-off workers will likely find new jobs quickly, a new survey finds business confidence in the economy at a 20-year low.
"I think the evidence is going to become more and more clear that the economy is not as hopeful as we would like," President Bush said Wednesday, pushing for his proposed $1.3 billion tax cut in hopes of juicing things up.
Mr. Bush might be right; the bad news keeps coming every day.
On Tuesday, a total of 800 jobs went offline at the New Economy firms ExciteAtHome and marchFIRST Inc. And Cable News Network announced it will eliminate about 400 jobs, or about 10 percent of its work force, including Washington news anchor Gene Randall and former Showbiz Today host Jim Moret.
On the traditional side of the marketplace, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. announced plans to close about 50 department stores and Textron said it would cut more than 3,600 jobs, or 5 percent of its global work force.
And railroad company Norfolk Southern Corp. announced it will cut up to 2,000 jobs.
By Chris Hawke © MMI Viacom Internet Services Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Limited contributed to this report