With an economy in the slumps, layoffs are an unfortunately all-too-common reality in the corporate scene. Yahoo is reportedly in preparations to unleash another round of mass cutbacks as early as this coming Tuesday, which may affect several hundred employees. This would be the third round of layoffs to hit the company in a little more than a year, cutting about 1,000 workers in early 2008 and then 1,400 more in the fourth quarter last year, finishing off the year with 13,600 employees.

Despite its online audience of 500 million people, Yahoo has seen a casual slowdown in growth and has lost ground to Google in search. With its display advertising business having been undercut by the explosion of sites that bring forth a way for marketers to reach audiences at lower prices, being too slow to acquire up-and-coming social attractions like YouTube and Facebook, and the company’s continuing migration of executives, employee morale is undoubtedly in shambles.

In addition to trimming the fat in the employment sector, Yahoo’s latest chief executive Carol Bartz has also been actively seeking to sell some business divisions lacking synergy with the company’s core mission, including Hotjobs, and has recently reopened discussions with Microsoft, this time focusing on a potential advertising partnership.