This is painful. The announcements around the world for job cuts has been picking up pace and has hit every sector including the previously untouchable Microsoft. The Caterpillar announcement is yet another after shock from the credit crisis since new construction is now at a standstill.
Caterpillar Inc said on Monday that quarterly earnings fell more than 32 percent and warned of a tough year ahead as the downturn that began in the United States metastasized into a full-blown global recession that hit sales of its earth-moving equipment.Other announcements today include Home Depot cutting 7,000 jobs and Sprint Nextel slashing up to 8,000. Dutch manufacturer Philips also announced cuts of 7,000 today.
The company also warned that profit in 2009 would be under severe pressure and said that it would cut about 17,000 workers and buy out 2,500 others, to reduce costs in the face of what it predicted would be the weakest year for business since the end of World War Two.
