Another company is planning to cut hundreds of Atlanta retail jobs.

The Home Depot Inc. recently announced that it would cut 7,000 jobs across the nation and close 34 expo stores. Of the jobs to be cut, 462 are in the Atlanta area at the company’s headquarters in Vinings and the facility in Cumberland. The layoffs will affect 324 salaried workers and 138 hourly workers at both facilities, according to an article by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

None of the employees to lose their jobs beginning April 1 are members of unions or able to partake in collective bargaining agreements. The company also plans to cut 75 positions at Home Depot Bath and Remodeling Inc. in Kennesaw.

Home Depot is being forced to make cuts and close stores because of the current economic recession. In January of last year, the company cut 500 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, and in May 2008 it closed 15 stores and cut 1,300 jobs. In 2006, Home Depot cut 300 jobs.

Home Depot expects its sales to decrease by 8 percent and its earnings to decrease by 24 percent during the 2008 fiscal year. During Q3, the company saw its profits fall by 31 percent to $756 million and sales dropped by 6.2 percent to $17.8 billion.

Home Depot is not the only retail store in the Atlanta area cutting jobs. Macy’s recently announced it would close its regional headquarters, cutting 850 jobs in Atlanta and 7,000 jobs across the country, or 4 percent of the company’s total workforce.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 11:45 am and is filed under jobs, Retail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.