In that case, employers facing weakening demand chose to drop temporary workers first.
Intel, however, faces weakening demand for its product amid a broad economic slump, in addition to longer-term challenges as the enormous company searches for a growth strategy.
In a report, the ratings agency warned that the global shipping industry "faces weakened demand amid sluggish global economic growth and evolving structural overcapacity".
Supermarkets were behind the plunge, the ONS said, as they slashed prices in the face of weakening consumer confidence.
H.P., the world's largest maker of personal computers, printers and computer servers, has struggled for years in the face of weakening consumer demand.
"In the face of weakening economic conditions, the validity of the strategies we put in place over the last five years was underscored time and time again," he said.
The Federal Reserve has driven down interest rates, hoping to lure money into investment; yet corporations have instead reduced capital spending in the face of weakening demand and an uncertain economic future.
The central banks of Japan, the eurozone, and the UK have turned their dials to dovish in the face of weakening global growth, and now the same is demanded of the US.
BRUSSELS -- The European Commission on Monday lowered its forecast for growth in the European Union this year as world trade decreases and consumers pull back in the face of weakening employment and battered housing markets.
Analysts estimate the E.C.B. holds about €45 billion to €50 billion of Greek government bonds it has bought in the secondary market at well below face value, weakening the hit the central bank would have to take in a debt restructuring.
