With companies doing massive layoffs every day, it's surprising to find out that there are nine companies in the U.S. that have never had a layoff. These nine companies are also on Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For list for 2009. Kudos to these nine companies that aren't only great places to work but have never had a layoff in their company history.

Good news, in that the pace of layoffs slowed in April. Companies cut 539,000 jobs, the fewest in six months. Bad news, in that the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9%, the highest since late 1983.

The business day started with a good news about the new home sales, but the news about the IBM Layoffs in 2009 helped to bring down the stocks. IBM job cuts will begin tomorrow in the services industry.

The recession and its toll can be seen every time new unemployment figures come out. And a new game by Tiltfactor's Layoff: The Game, which lets you save companies untold billions by laying off sets of workers.

Macy's is the latest retailer to admit the recession has hit it hard. On Monday the chain announced layoffs of 7,000, or 4% of its workforce.

In the wake of the worst holiday shopping season in memory, retailer chain Target has announced layoffs.

Caterpillar's massive job cuts are not the end of the bad economic news this morning. The Home Depot and Sprint also announced huge layoffs today as Sprint will cut 8000 employees and the Home Depot will slash 7000 jobs while exiting the Home Depot Expo business.

Yes, Virginia, it's true. First rumored in early January, but at 3x the number, there are indeed layoffs happening at Microsoft. The number set to join the employment rolls is 5,000, as revealed in Microsoft's earnings statement for fiscal Q2 2009, released before market opening on Thursday.

In this recession and economy, a layoff isn't a surprise. But a layoff of 15,000 people, and from Microsoft, no less? That's nearly a recession unto itself.