Layoffs spreading across corporate America

The cuts are spreading into other sectors:

* PepsiCo on Tuesday said it would cut 3,300 jobs, almost 2 percent of its work force, in a bid to cut costs.

* Danaher, which also makes Craftsman tools, said on Thursday it would lay off 1,000 workers and close 12 plants.

* Rockwell Automation Inc said it would lay off about 3 percent of its staff, or 600 people. That news came on September 30, the last day of the U.S. manufacturer's fiscal year.

* Textron Inc, the world's largest maker of corporate jets, said an unspecified number of jobs would be cut as it scales back its financial operation.

* Leggett & Platt Inc, which makes bed springs and store shelving, said it was cutting back hours at some factories and, in the words of Chief Executive Dave Haffner, "must move to reduce staff. We are already doing so." It did not disclose the number of jobs it plans to eliminate.

FEW OTHER CHOICES

Temporary employment may also prove harder to find. Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co, which normally bulks up staffing in the holiday season, plans to cut seasonal hiring by as many as 10,000 workers this year after hiring about 26,000 in 2007.

"When we see job losses and rising unemployment, this does not just affect those who lost their job," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the partly labor-funded Economic Policy Institute think tank.

"Wages grow more slowly when there's higher unemployment, so the downturn will be affecting most working families through reduced hours of work," said Mishel. "This is not something that affects a small part of the workforce."

With the pace of layoffs picking up, the cycle becomes a vicious one, pressuring consumer spending and hurting home values yet again.

"As people lose their jobs, they cut back on their consumption, and people are less able to afford their mortgages, which are already strained," said Ron Blackwell, chief economist at the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor federation. "And so people lose their houses, which continues to aggravate the financial problems. So it's reinforcing in that way and it's also spreading.

"This recession -- and I didn't see it this way a month ago -- is going to be global in scope," Blackwell said.

(Additional reporting by Nick Zieminski in New York; Editing by Brian Moss)