31.   Now the private companies are laying off massive amounts of workers in an attempt to streamline operations.

32.   Oil companies are laying plans to bring the same technology to West Africa and South China.

33.   Olivetti SpA both fired workers, while other big companies temporarily laid off workers or sold non-core businesses.

34.   Now that companies are laying off workers, the critics contend, there is no reason to import labor.

35.   On Wednesday, the company laid off mostly secretarial and support staff.

36.   Productivity can rise because technology makes production more efficient but also because a company lays off workers and then gets proportionally more from the remaining work force.

37.   Record companies are laying off employees.

38.   Robert Kasenter, a Montgomery Ward vice president, said the total would be that high only if the company laid off all employees at one time.

39.   Several top managers have recently left, and the company has laid off thousands of workers in the last year.

40.   Several other large Internet companies have laid off workers since the beginning of the year.