CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, here at home the sputtering economy is on the minds of many people. And interest rates may be on the cutting block again. Federal Reserve officials will discuss it all for the next two days in Washington. And this comes amid corporate layoffs and falling consumer confidence. Our report now from Peter Viles of CNN Financial News.</s>PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The flood of layoffs that began in December appears to be gathering steam: 26,000 job cuts announced Monday at struggling Chrysler. And last week, the job cuts came in bunches: 10,000 jobs at Lucent Technology, 7,000 at Sara Lee, 5,300 at JCPenney, and 2,400 at CNN parent AOL Time Warner. In all, roughly 67,000 job cuts in the past six business days.</s>JOHN CHALLENGER, CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS: December was the heaviest month we've seen for layoff announcements since we began tracking those numbers, in January of 1993. There were over 133,000. So far in January it seems every day there is another big layoff. It doesn't seem like there is any let up.</s>VILES: The retail sector has been particularly hard hit. Since December, major retailers, such as Montgomery Wards, have announced plans to close more than 500 stores and to cut more than 57,000 jobs. Still, the unemployment rate is holding at just four percent.</s>CATHERINE MANN, INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS: Since the unemployment rate has remained quite steady, not even going up a tenth of a percent, then that suggests that we are in a situation where people who are being laid off are finding jobs very quickly.</s>VILES: Merrill Lynch estimates the economy will add on average 100,000 new jobs per month this year. The problem is the pool of available workers will grow by 120,000 per month. (on camera): Even if jobs do remain plentiful, the drum beat of layoff announcements poses a threat to consumer confidence, which has been lagging as the economy slows. Peter Viles, CNN Financial News, Washington.
As Fed Meets This Week, Major Layoffs Have Staggered Economy