Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
California: What housing market recovery? Prometheus Real Estate Group warned it will layoff dozens of real estate agents across several cities by the end of December. In Santa Anna, ITT Cannon warned of 41 layoffs in December.
Connecticut: Office Depot shutting down stores in two cities; West Hartford and Wethersfield, in November. OfficeMax closing a store in Waterbury. It’s the result of the Office Depot-OfficeMax merger. After the shutdowns Connecticut will have no more Office Depots, and only two OfficeMax stores in the entire state. In Torrington, Sears Holdings announced they’re killing off another Kmart, 73 jobs lost.
Florida: In Zephyrhills, Sears Holdings announced they’re killing off another Kmart, 70 jobs lost.
Georgia: Atlanta based Weather Channel killing 40 jobs that were newly created in July. Administrators called it a normal part of “restructuring”.
Kansas: More proof the internet is not killing brick-n-mortar stores; Amazon shutting down their Coffeyville distribution center after Xmas. Local news reports say hundreds of people will become unemployed in February. Local news reports say Amazon is moving distribution centers closer to their main customers, apparently in metropolitan areas (so they can use drones to deliver the products?).
Maryland: In Northwest Baltimore, Sears Holdings announced they’re killing off another Kmart, 107 jobs lost!
Minnesota: Minneapolis based food maker General Mills announced they will kill off as many as 800 salaried jobs by February 2015! These are on top of the hundreds of jobs killed by their shutdown of a cereal factory and a yogurt factory. Administrators of General Mills, the largest cereal maker in the U.S., blame the suck-ass economy for their crashing sales. After 51 years Bookcase of Wayzata shutdown: “Challenges that we have faced — especially over the last couple of years — have become insurmountable. Changing shopping habits and the physical reality of the redevelopment and road construction that have been ongoing in downtown Wayzata for several years now have caused a dramatic drop in sales.”-Charlie Leonard, owner
Nevada: In Las Vegas, inside sources revealed that Downtown Project is killing 30 corporate jobs. The Project is a joint venture between public and private sectors, in an attempt to revitalize East Fremont Street. It sounds more like an excuse to sell off properties cheap. Project administrators refuse comment on the reported layoffs.
New York: Buffalo based “TV everywhere” Synacorp announced it will layoff 70 people. In Rochester, Kodak laid off more employees, reports say at least 70 this time. In NYC, food service provider to the United Nations Aramark warned it could shutdown by January 2015, due to loss of contract, 123 jobs lost! The New York Times killing off 100 newsroom jobs! That’s on top of those employees who don’t quit voluntarily: “The job losses are necessary to control our costs and to allow us to continue to invest in the digital future of The New York Times…”-official statement
Ohio: United Rehabilitation Services shutdown its Berry Hearing Center. Administrators blame increasing competition.
Texas: Oil equipment supply company Quality Lease & Rental (aka Rocaceia Energy Services) now chapter 11 bankrupt busted. In Dallas, oil industry law firm Godwin Lewis laid off 17 attorneys. Administrators said it was the result of successfully defending Haliburton against the people of the United States!
The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shutdown. It doesn’t count people who get a severance for being laid off.