Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.
Alabama: Sunset Landing Golf Course shutting down by the end of the month, as the owner (the Airport Authority) looks for better money making ways to use the land.
Alaska: Swamp Donkey Oilfield Services laying off 70 employees, owner Trent Lindberg warned “This is going to be widespread…….Overhead is too high to work for a reduced price. You can’t reduce your prices as much as oil companies require to get the jobs, but you need to reduce them if you’re going to get the work.”
Arizona: The Art Institute of Tucson shutting down as soon as the last of its 3-hundred students graduate. It’s directly connected to Education Management Corporation’s troubles with the U.S. Department of Education.
California: In Nevada County, Higgins Fire District laying off six employees in July due to local cash strapped taxpayers voting down a plan to raise taxes. Another recycling center going down, the Arcata Resource Recovery Center shutting down, blaming lack of people bringing in recyclables. Of course, prices are so low now you’re actually losing money going through the effort! But wait, what about the fact that Arcata City forces residents to use recycling bins, isn’t that enough for Arcata Resource Recovery Center? Nope, because Arcata Resource Recovery Center is being affected by low prices as well.
Florida: Ameris Bank shutting down its Jasper office on 2nd Avenue, by the end of the month.
Illinois: Chicago Public Schools announced yet more mass layoffs, 227 non-teaching jobs being eliminated! Sears Holdings confirmed the Morton ‘green’ Kmart shutting down by the end of April, 47 jobs lost.
Louisiana: East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court’s Office laid off 12 employees, as the Office is investigated for how it spends taxpayer funding.
Massachusetts: A prime example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs; local news reports say that because of Johnson & Johnson’s 3-thousand layoffs in its medical device division, another company called DePuy Synthes warned it might be forced to conduct mass layoffs at its Raynham medical device factory. Raynham city administrators are pissed because they gave DePuy massive tax breaks to prevent them from moving the factory to Indiana.
Mississippi: Coast Clothing shutting down in Pascagoula after 42 years.
New Mexico: In Albuquerque, after 18 years Lauren’s Hallmark Shop shutting down in February.
New Jersey: In Englishtown, Reiss Manufacturing issued a WARN saying 125 plastics molding employees will become unemployed in March!
France based Sanofi is about to issue a WARN affecting hundreds of employees in New Jersey. News reports say the drugs pusher is cutting jobs worldwide and “…a disproportionate number of job losses may occur in the United States.”
New York: “Home energy solutions” company K&L Green shutting down its Copiague operations, 56 jobs lost by the end of the month. In DeWitt, HVAC company Carrier sent a press release to local news media saying that layoffs are about to take place, no numbers given.
North Carolina: Sitel Operating Corporation shutting down its Asheville call center, 250 jobs lost by July!
Ohio: A prime example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs; local news reports say that because of Johnson & Johnson’s 3-thousand layoffs in its medical device division, another company called Ethicon could layoff all 824 medical device making employees in Blue Ash! (local news reports say at one point Ethicon employed 1,200+ people in Blue Ash) But wait there’s more! Proctor & Gamble is also killing jobs in Blue Ash, 1-thousand 150 jobs are being consolidated to operations in Mason! Sears Holdings confirmed the Warren Kmart on Parkman Road NW will shutdown in April, 63 jobs lost.
Tennessee: In Springfield, the Goody’s in the Moorland Shopping Center shutting down by the end of March.
Texas: Houston based natural gas driller Southwestern Energy laying off 1-thousand 1-hundred people, the majority in Arkansas, Pennsylvania and West Virginia! Administrators blame crashing gas prices. Houston based oil driller Schlumberger revealed it eliminated 10-thousand jobs in 2015, and it will eliminate even more in 2016 because it lost $1-billion USD in its 4th quarter of 2015! The Galveston County Commissioners voted to shutdown popular fishing spot Rollover Pass saying it contributes to land erosion during hurricanes! Rollover Pass, which connects to the Gulf of Mexico, has been a favorite fishing destination since the 1950s.
Virginia: Historical tourist attraction Colonial Williamsburg laying off 60 people, blaming “conflicting priorities” and “strained resources”. In Arlington, Executive Menswear at the Crystal City Shops shutting down “very soon”.
Washington: Illinois based (but Seattle founded) Boeing warning that it could end production of its latest version of the iconic 747, resulting in mass layoffs for The Evergreen State. Administrators blame declining demand for civilian cargo aircraft. Seattle based Starbucks announced it will shutdown several two years old Teavana ‘tea bars’ in New York and California.
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
20 January 2016: “circumstances beyond our control…changing demographics…declining sales”
Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed
The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”