Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.

Switzerland based Too Big to Jail Credit Suisse eliminating 2-thousand marketing jobs “mostly in London and New York”!

California: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech for your demise; Redwood based smartwatch maker Pebble already in trouble, eliminating 40 jobs due to lack of “support” from those idiots who throw their money at tech startups.  Administrators blame it on increasing competition from other tech companies for that “support”.  In other words; tech companies don’t make money off actually selling something, it comes from geeks who “support” those companies (hey, why doesn’t anybody want to support Blind Bat News? hit the donate button).  Japan owned Sony Pictures Entertainment eliminating 20 marketing-distribution jobs due to money losing movies.  Non-profit Memorial Care Health System shutting down their Saddleback Memorial Medical Center, 194 jobs lost by May!  It’s blamed on failed attempts to get state ‘lawmakers’ to pass a bill that would’ve turned the medical center into an outpatient operation (no thanks to ObamaCare).

Georgia: In Atlanta, after more than five years H. Harper Station bar shutting down next week.  The owner blames the landlord: “While signs point to the area’s impending development coming to fruition, it also brings the pressure of increased costs. After a great five-year run, we feel the model is no longer sustainable. We wish the best to the new tenant…”-Jerry Slater

Illinois: After 27 years Monticello Drugs shutting down next week. ObamaCare was the final straw for the owner: “…after a burden of 27 years of ownership, the pleasure has just gone out of it.”-Marty Woodruff

Indiana: In Terre Haute, after ten years Guitar Center shutting down due to increased rent, 11 jobs affected.

Kentucky: Printer maker Lexmark issued a WARN, 143 Fayette County jobs lost by the end of May! Company administrators did not give a reason.  India based office management company Firstsource Group issued a shutdown WARN for their Jefferson County operations, 282 jobs gone by mid-May!

Massachusetts: In Agawam, after only two years the YMCA shutting down by the end of May due to lack of membership.  Since opening in 2014 a grand total of only 550 people signed up!

New Jersey: Trenton Board of Education shutting down Stokes Early Childhood Center and eliminating a net 164 jobs! It’s the second year in a row for shutdowns and layoffs due to lack of students and taxpayer funding.

New York:  In DeWitt, a combined Office Max-Offcie Depot store shutting down by mid-May.  Oceanside Institutional Industries issued a shutdown WARN for their food service linens operations, 171 jobs lost by mid-June!  After 47 years, God powerless to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Elmira Christian Academy due to The Rapture of students (what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome).  At the school’s peak there were 220 students, this year there’s only 80, the pastor blames the parents: “It’s hard to compete with families who feel that it would be more advantageous for them to educate their kids from home.”-David Leandre

Ohio: In Hebron, Lakewood Digital Academy shutting down in June due to cancelation of taxpayer funding. The local school district must also payback $150-thousand USD to the state Department of Education.  It’s blamed on changes in laws affecting charter schools.

Pennsylvania: Radio Shack-Sprint shutting down their Schuylkill Mall store next Monday, due to lack of “performance”.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

22 March 2016:  Low-tech girls in low-cut shirts can’t stop the high-tech bubble from bursting! 

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.”