NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Sears Holdings has released a partial list of the Sears and Kmart stores set to close as a result of the company’s poor sales this holiday season.

Sears (SHLD, Fortune 500) said earlier this week that it planned to close between 100 and 120 stores at an unspecified time in the near future.

On Thursday, the firm released a list of 79 that are set to be shuttered nationwide.

Sears said in a statement that it could not provide an estimate of the job losses coming as a result of these closures because employment “varies by store and format.” The dates on which the stores will close have yet to be announced. (See the list.)

Nearly 2 million Americans currently receiving unemployment benefits stand to lose coverage this January if Congress does not extend the emergency federal unemployment insurance program. 24/7 Wall St. has reviewed a study by the National Employment Law Project to identify the ten states where the most people could lose benefits.

The supercommittee was responsible for extending the unemployment benefits. The group was supposed to reach a federal debt-reduction agreement that would have included an extension of the federal unemployment insurance for people who have run out of state-level benefits. Since the supercommittee failed to reach an agreement, the federal programs will expire on December 31 unless Congressional lawmakers renew it.

Private employers added 206,000 jobs in November, according to a new report released Wednesday from payrolls processor ADP.

The monthly number was better than expected. Analysts had expected a smaller gain in November. October’s monthly gain in private-sector hiring was revised up to 130,000 from a previously reported gain of 110,000.

Each month, ADP releases a report on whether private employers added any jobs in the prior month. The report is often used as a gauge heading into the government’s monthly employment report, which is due out Friday.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The city of Fort Smith, Ark., got hit with a double whammy on Friday, as one factory closed down and another faced imminent demise.

Whirlpool Corp. (WHR, Fortune 500) said it will shut down its factory next year, putting about 1,000 people will be out of work, in addition to the 800 lay offs that have already occurred at the appliance plant.

On the same day, Fortis Plastics shuttered its doors, resulting in another 90 lost jobs.

Mayor Sandy Sanders, who worked at Whirlpool for 32 years in human resources, acknowledged the “dwindling” demand in the area of manufacturing, noting that 5,000 people had worked at the factory when he retired in 1998.

Andrew Bricknell, 50, has lived in and around Detroit his whole life. Raised in Dearborn, Mich., where his father was a tool-and-die maker for Ford, Bricknell never doubted what industry he’d go into when he grew up — only which end of it.

As a kid, Bricknell showed an aptitude for art. “I wouldn’t say I was an artist, but I could visualize and draw things,” he says. So rather than put cars together, he went to work helping design them.

With unemployment stuck above 9 percent, Americans are looking to the White House, Republican presidential candidates and the Federal Reserve for credible plans to boost job growth. None of the proposals now being floated hold much promise.

Falling home prices continue to wipe out equity for millions of households. Manufacturing has slowed sharply as demand for goods has fallen. After borrowing heavily for a decade, consumers and governments are make deep cuts in spending.

In his speech to Congress Thursday night, President Barack Obama acknowledged the limited impact the federal government can have in spurring job growth in an economy that many analysts warn is reaching “stall speed.”

Washington (CNN) – Economic fears are not diminishing. More than eight in 10 Americans think the economy is in another recession, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. One-third of those surveyed think it’s serious.

While the country isn’t technically in a recession because the economy hasn’t experienced two straight quarters of negative growth, the poll’s results highlight the importance of President Barack Obama’s jobs speech next Thursday night.

Full results (pdf)

Americans have “a bad case of economic jitters,” according to CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

The news Friday that the economy created zero jobs in August is ominous, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re heading for another recession.

“Most of the releases that came out earlier in the week were a little bit better than generally expected and this one was a little bit worse,” said Mike Montgomery, U.S. macro economist with IHS Global Insight.

Instead, Montgomery said the weak employment report could be yet another sign that the U.S. is continuing to muddle through some serious economic doldrums. That may be better than a recession, but it’s still an extremely unpleasant prospect for the many Americans who have been out of work for months or even years

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Filings for unemployment claims dipped last week, after striking Verizon employees went back to work.

The number of first-time filers for unemployment benefits fell to 409,000 in the week ending Aug. 27, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s down 12,000 from a revised 421,000 the prior week.

Economists were predicting initial claims would fall to 407,000 during the week, according to Briefing.com.

Unemployment claims from striking Verizon workers had pushed the figure up substantially for two weeks in a row. In most states, striking workers aren’t eligible for unemployment benefits, but that doesn’t necessarily stop them from applying anyway.

Think getting fired is hard? Try doing the firing.

And when you are a small business owner it can be particularly hard.

At best, it’s an uncomfortable face-to-face confrontation that can lead to hurt feelings. At worst: physical altercations, hacked servers and lost clients.

“Large corporations have a team of people who can assist with hiring and training new people,” said Roberta Chinsky Matuson, president of Human Resource Solutions, a Massachusetts-based consultancy. “Small businesses have much less bench strength when it comes to staffing and training.”

They don’t have much when it comes to firing either. Here’s what seven disgruntled employees did to small business owners after they learned they were getting pink-slipped.

NEXT: Hacked files

NEW YORK — Wall Street’s wildest week since 2008 continued with another 400-plus point move for the Dow on Thursday. This time, stocks shot up after investors saw small signs that the economy might not be headed into another recession.

Fewer Americans joined the unemployment line last week, and a technology bellwether said revenue could grow faster this quarter than analysts expected. The news pushed prices on long-term Treasurys down, and gold fell from its record high.

NEW YORK — Stocks lost most of their gains late in the trading session Thursday, closing mixed after an unexpected decrease in unemployment claims sent the market slightly higher earlier even as a stalemate continued in Washington over how to avoid a U.S. debt default.

The government said first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell to 398,000 last week, the lowest level in four months. That’s a sign that employers are laying off fewer workers.

The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen over the previous four days over worries that the U.S. might default on its debt as soon as next week if Congress doesn’t raise the country’s borrowing limit.