On Tuesday 26 January 2010, the biggest home improvement retailer in U.S., Home Depot Inc. announced that it is cutting 1000 jobs in total as they have plans to close down three pilot stores that are not performing well and merge various support functions. A memo received by the workers from CEO Frank Blake states that around 900 job cuts will twig from fusing back-end human resource, construction and finance functions.

The layoffs are less than 1 percent of the total 300,000 working in 2,245 stores in total, which include 1976 stores in U.S. alone.

The company head office in Atlanta says that they are not aiming at cost cutting due to the business performance or economic stress; rather they are making some discreet structural changes that will help to improve business. They are trying to make operations more proficient. Spokesman for Home Depot in Atlanta, Ron Defeo said that at least 200 jobs will be created by the company by structural reconstruction.

Home Depot in Atlanta has faced an all time decline in the sales due to the slowdown of the construction business and people trying to do maximum of the work on their own and holding back their finances. However the housing sector in the U.S. is now coming back on its feet gradually after a massive slowdown for last three years, and companies like Home Depot will definitely yield more when the economy stabilizes.