It's all hitting a bit closer to home now

Found out today that the company I worked for in Ireland are making 10% of their staff redundant (at least two secretaries from the department I worked in are among that 10%) and introducing paycuts for everyone else. I'm fairly certain that the German company is looking at this kind of thing as well although they did introduce a voluntary scheme a few months ago where you could choose to reduce your hours (with a corresponding pay cut obviously) and I had hoped that would be enough to see them through the next while. Feeling pretty awful about the whole thing at the moment. On the one hand I know friends and colleagues of mine are going to have to start signing on soon (27,600 people joined the live register in Ireland in January alone - that's not going to make finding a new job any easier) and when I think about some of the individuals involved and their lives and families it's heartbreaking. On the other hand I'm torn between a slight feeling of having gotten out just in time and the fear that actually by moving I've just put everything off for a while. Because although the situation here doesn't seem to be as grim as Ireland yet, it does seem to be getting there and although I am technically working for the same company it is actually a completely separate entity and so instead of being a long-serving employee I've only seven months of service to show. And in the back of my head is a constant refrain of please don't collapse Economy, please don't collapse for at least another three years. I'm sure I've said it before, I know it was my own fault for getting into debt and taking so long to get it under control but I just want to be able to clear that debt and still live my life (which includes being able to do things like buy a yoghurt maker on eBay). Aaaahhh, I know I will just have to roll with the punches as they come and I know there are many millions of people in far worse straits than I am. It really is starting to feel like time is running out though.