Bloomberg News reports that employers slashed 80,000 jobs in March. This accelerates the rate of monthly job cuts -- 76,000 lost their jobs in March -- and boosts the unemployment rate -- at 5.1% it's the highest since September 2005 when it was 4.8%.

The jobs hits are coming from the automobile, construction, and financial industries. 24,000 jobs were lost in the auto manufacturing and parts industries; builders eliminated 51,000 jobs after a decline of 37,000 in February; and Wall Street banks hit by mortgage losses and write-downs have cut more than 34,000 jobs in the past nine months.

Nobody really knows how bad the layoffs will get. But Fortune reports that there's no magic wand that can help you if you've been laid off. It advises people to "step back, take a deep breath, and take a careful look at your career -- to re-evaluate your goals in life. What do you really want to do next? Maybe it's time to move on to something completely different. This is your chance to find out."

In the next few years, many more people will be taking that chance.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.