Saturday, July 23, 2005

Layoff trend worries U.S. industry experts

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - In a week where Alan Greenspan said he expected the U.S. economy to keep growing, and Wall Street seemed generally pleased with corporate performance, workers at Eastman Kodak Co., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Kimberly-Clark Corp., among others, were warned about thousands of new layoffs.

"You get immune to it after a while," longtime Kodak technician John Hladis said with barely a shrug when the scythe fell once more at the Rochester-based photography company, slicing away another 10,000 employees.

But some economy watchers are suddenly concerned that this latest flurry of job cuts - a byproduct of various trends such as outsourcing, mergers, automation, changing technology and consumer demands - might foreshadow some trouble ahead.

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