Weakening demand is forcing new and accelerated cost reductionsat companies from Bank of America Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. toStaples Inc. and Eastman Kodak Co., dimming the outlook for analready struggling U.S. labor market.

Even as consumer confidence and housing show signs ofrecovering, sales for businesses in the Standard & Poor's 500Index fell 0.9 percent from a year earlier in July throughSeptember, the second consecutive quarterly drop and biggestdecline since 2009, according to analyst forecasts compiled byBloomberg. A 1.2 percent gain projected for October-December stillis smaller than the 5.4 percent rise in this year's first threemonths.

A global slowdown triggered by Europe's debt crisis isexacerbated by the potential impact of the impending U.S. fiscalcliff of changes in taxes and government spending. All this ispushing finance chiefs back to the drawing board, with somelimiting hiring and investment and others slashing more jobs thanoriginally announced. Such belt-tightening will dominate employmentprospects for the rest of the year.