Summer's Over. So's Your Job.

Happy Labor Day -- you're fired.

Well, maybe not in the next few days, but chances of being let go in the waning months of 2008 are higher than in recent years, according to a new job market survey.

If the pace of job losses continues, another 500,000 people will be axed by the end of the year. That would make it the largest post-Labor Day downsizing since 2002, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., a global outplacement firm.

Based on unusually heavy layoff notices in June and July, total job cuts for 2008 could well exceed one million for the first time since 2005, the Chicago-based firm said. Last year, companies announced plans to shed 768,264 jobs.

"Through the first quarter, job cuts remained relatively stable, averaging just short of 67,000 per month," said John A. Challenger, the company's chief executive officer. The pace accelerated to 95,000 a month this summer.

"It was only a matter of time before the job market began to buckle under the pressure of the housing market collapse, the banking crisis and high oil prices," Challenger added.

The job cut surge began in late April, he said, "and has not subsided yet." It is expected to continue in August, but those figures won't be released until next Tuesday -- the day after Labor Day.

Things are unlikely to improve next year, Challenger warned. That's because the airline and automotive industries will continue their slumps and "retailers are probably looking at the weakest holiday season since 2001."

Let us be the first to say it: Happy Holidays.

by Elizabeth Olson