Queue for job, courtesy of le Haricot

The economy is a mess. Our 401(k)’s are toast. And we’re all stressed. Now the WaPo has quantified our job-loss fears:

In September, there were more mass layoffs — instances in which employers slashed 50 or more jobs at one time — than in any month since September 2001, the Labor Department said yesterday. And nearly half a million Americans have filed new claims for unemployment benefits in each of the past four weeks, the highest rate of such claims since just after the terrorist attacks seven years ago. Anecdotal reports suggest that the hemorrhaging in the job market has only begun. 

I know all the banking headlines and Dow drops have me scared to open the morning paper. Yet until recently I felt immune.

This is Washington, where the Federal Government is a steady employer, where the Pentagon still spends billions every day, and where power is shifting with the resurgence of Federal financial oversight. On a personal level, knock on wood, my company is okay. We have most of our funding secured through 2009, though after that…

Yet when the Post reports of lawyer layoffs in DC, you know that the Wall Street malaise is reaching K Street, and we should all start to worry. With all the local governments talking of mid-year cutbacks and service reductions, the pain is going to get worse before it gets better.

So is your company feeling the pinch yet? Is there cost cutting? Layoffs? Even if not, do you, like me, wake in the middle of the night worried about your paycheck or finances? And if you do, what can you do about it?

Share your stress, and stress reliefs, in the comments. It will feel good to express your fears and hopes, even anonymously. We’re all worried even as we love DC.