Home Depot in Georgia announced it is eliminating about 800 corporate jobs in Cobb County, which could prove a problem for President Donald Trump’s plans for the state in upcoming midterm and the subsequent national elections.The company announced its cuts primarily due to “a slow housing market and increased consumer uncertainty,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.“Many of the affected employees are in technology positions and were working in remote or hybrid roles, Home Depot spokesperson Sara Gorman told AJC. “Some affected employees work in other roles across the Store Support Center, what Home Depot calls its headquarters.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the company’s cuts come as Amazon announced its own plans to kill 14,000 corporate jobs and as a Sandy Springs, GA.-based UPS announced it was cutting 30,000 positions this year.Home Depot reported in August that customers were shying away from large home improvement projects because of high interest rates. At that time, it also noted “modest price movement” on certain goods caused by tariffs instituted by President Donald Trump.“We continue to see softer engagement in larger discretionary projects, where customers typically use financing to fund renovation projects, during the third quarter,” Billy Bastek, Home Depot’s executive vice president of merchandising, said on a call last November.“Housing has been soft for some time,” said Home Depot chair, president and CEO Ted Decker late last year. “We all know higher interest rates and affordability concerns, but what we’re seeing now is even less turnover. The housing activity is truly at 40-year lows.”At the time, Decker said the company was predicting a $50 billion drop in repair and remodel activity, and that consumers were feeling “concerned about living costs and job stability.”Home Depot said its net income dipped to $3.6 billion during the third quarter of last year under Trump, down 1.3 percent from the same period last year, under former president Joe Biden.The layoffs are terrible timing for President Donald Trump, who is currently visiting red states across the nation to sell his alleged vigorous economy. A slew of polls reveals, however, that U.S. voters are not feeling the economy that Trump describes. Republicans, in fact, are panicking at voter discontent in the months leading up to the 2026 midterms. The state of Georgia, which was once reliably red, is already becoming more blue as the population grows more cosmopolitan, and voted for former president Joe Biden over Trump after his first term.Read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution report at this link.
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