Leaks Breaking Out

As in companies leaking jobs. AP (07.22.05):

"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." Corporate Icons Lead Bad U.S. Labor Week

"'We won't know till afterwards, but I do think we may be seeing a tipping point in the economic cycle that these big layoffs are flagging,' said John A. Carpenter, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based employment research firm. 'I think it's a sign that leaks are breaking out.'" Might be a long, hot summer, economically speaking. "U.S. corporations announced plans in June to cut 110,996 jobs — the highest monthly total in 17 months — and July's toll could turn out to be steeper. Overall job cuts are on the rise in 2005, reaching 538,274 through June, according to Challenger's monthly job-cut analysis."