Wolf Appliance has put 79 hourly employees on temporary, indefinite layoff since Monday.

Chuck Verri, vice president of human resources for Sub-Zero Freezer/Wolf Appliance, said the layoff does not signal a major change. "We meet on a monthly basis and will adjust production in our various product lines," he said. "In some cases, that means hiring folks; in some cases, temporary layoffs."

Privately owned Sub-Zero/Wolf makes high-end refrigeration and cooking appliances. Based in Madison, the company also has operations in Fitchburg and in Phoenix.

Last spring, Sub-Zero/Wolf said it would cut 235 hourly factory jobs because the sluggish economy had slowed sales. That reduction never happened, Verri said. But the company did eliminate 43 salaried positions last May, 16 of which had been vacant. All three locations were affected, he said at the time.

Among hourly staff, 35 Wolf employees were laid off for six months, also starting last May, said Dave Goodspeed, business agent for Sheet Metal Workers Local 565 in Madison. They returned to their positions in November.

"This is a trend we're seeing all throughout the shops we represent," said Goodspeed, who said the union represents 900 Sub-Zero/Wolf employees in Dane County. "It's really reflective of what's going on in the (U.S.) housing market. This is a skid."

In November, nationwide, contracts to buy existing homes hit their lowest monthly level since the National Association of Realtors began keeping those records, the organization said Tuesday.