Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.

California: Saddleback Memorial Medical Center shutting down in May.  Administrators say ObamaCare has driven away so many patients that it’s now “unsustainable”.  Japan based video game maker SEGA (SEGA was created in the U.S. territory of Hawaii in 1940, where it made slot machines) revealed they eliminated an undisclosed number of jobs from their San Francisco SEGA Networks ops.

Colorado: Russia based steel oil pipe maker EVRAZ expanding their job destruction to Pueblo, 70 jobs lost to low oil and steel prices.  This is on top of the 230 jobs in Oregon.

Connecticut: In Stamford, after 50 years Pat’s Hubba Hubba restaurant shutting down by the end of the month.

Illinois: In Lake Zurich the Sears Appliance & Hardware shutting down by the end of April.  John A. Logan College eliminating 55 jobs claiming to be short $7-million USD.  Protesting students pointed out that certain departments are not suffering job losses and that school executives refused to say why.   Computer Systems Institute shutting down campuses across the state, eliminating 172 jobs between now and September!  In Chicago, Computershare issued a layoff WARN, 56 jobs lost by the end of April.  Food giant Tyson issued a shutdown WARN, 170 frozen food jobs eliminated between April and August!  In Elk Grove Village, food service company Sodexo issued a shutdown WARN, 54 jobs lost by the end of April.  Also in Elk Grove Village, Arrow Plastics shutting down after being sold-off, 165 jobs lost by mid-April! In Westmont, IlliCare Health shutting down due to loss of contract, 68 jobs lost by the end of this month.  In Bensenville, Tek-Cast issued a shutdown WARN, 119 jobs lost by mid-April! Deer Run Mine issued a layoff WARN, 84 jobs lost between March this year and January 2017 (blamed on a “natural disaster”).  Joliet Generating Station eliminating 94 jobs between April and October.  Bankrupt Sports Authority shutting down their Romeoville store in April, 66 jobs lost (for a list of all the Sports Authority stores being shutdown as part of the bankruptcy, click here).  TDC Filter shutting down their Bolingbrook factory, 91 jobs gone by the the end of this month. In Rochelle, Ryder truck rentals issued a shutdown WARN, 2-hundred jobs lost by the end of April!  The Kewanee child prison being consolidated with other prison ops, 203 jobs lost by July!

Maryland: In Amherst, beef eatery White Hut shutting down by the end of the month.  The family owners say sales have only been “modest” and not enough to justify renewing the lease.  They hope their flagship Great Depression era restaurant in West Springfield doesn’t meet the same fate.

Massachusetts: Framingham based, Mitt Romney (yep, the very same Mormon guy who’s threatening to run against Donald Trump) co-founded Staples announced it is shutting down an additional 50 stores.  Mitt Romney’s Staples has shutdown 242 North American stores in the past two years, and eliminated 1-thousand jobs between November 2015 and January 2016!

Minnesota: Dow shutting down their warehousing ops at their GMO seed factory in Olivia, 25 jobs lost.  However, GMO “Research and Development (R&D) activities will continue at the site.” 

New York: Solar equipment supplier Direct Energy shutting down their Henrietta operations, 53 jobs lost in May.  Too Big to Jail Goldman Sachs eliminating 43 jobs in May, they accuse the employees of being “under-performers”!   Berkley Publishing Group revealed they eliminated an undisclosed number of jobs last week, blaming crashing paperback book sales.  News reports say the book publisher has been eliminating jobs since Summer 2015.

Ohio: Grocery store giant Kroger warning investors that same store sales crashed in the last three months of their fiscal 2015 (for the entire year their sales were still up)!  Kroger owns stores that sell more than just food, but administrators warn that across the board sales will be down for 2016, which breaks Kroger’s record of more than 12 straight years of sales increases!  Kroger administrators blame competition, and deflation which will kill profit margins.

Oregon: The Kroger owned  Fred Meyer distribution center in Clackamas is threatening 2-hundred jobs, as Kroger decided to find a new contractor to provide the labor!

Texas: God powerless to stop ‘his’ 30 years old Central Christian Academy from shutting down. Church leaders blame The Rapture, I mean declining church membership for forcing them to sell the school property (told you before, this proves money is the true god).

Utah: British empire United Kingdom based Rio Tinto eliminating about 2-hundred jobs at their Kennecott mine, blaming low prices for metals!

Vermont: Entergy eliminating 97 jobs at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant due to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission eliminating the ten mile emergency evacuation zone.

Virginia: After 89 years (surviving The Great Depression and numerous recessions) clothier Young Men’s Shop shutting down.  The owner said that despite most of his clothing being made in the U.S. more and more people buy off internet.

Washington: Seattle based retailer Nordstrom’s revealed they eliminated ten IT jobs, last week.  This is despite the fact that Nordstrom’s internet sales have gone up.

Wisconsin: OEM Fabricators laying off 34 people in Baldwin as the company shuts down in April.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

02 March 2016: “We have to remove ourselves from what once was.”

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!

Employees of religious non-profits might not qualify for unemployment assistance: “If the non-profit organization is a church, you may or may not be entitled to unemployment. It all depends upon state regulations for church employers. In many cases, churches are allowed to set their own rules regarding unemployment benefits, meaning the church can choose whether to offer benefits to former employees.”

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.”