Incomplete list of U.S. job loss announcements and shutdowns.
Ireland based generic prescription drugs maker Endo International reported huge quarterly losses and will now eliminate 740 jobs in Alabama and North Carolina!
Arkansas: El Dorado based Murphy Oil announced its first ever quarterly loss and revealed they’ve already laid off at least 250 employees! Murphy Oil lost nearly $200-million USD, primarily from contracted customers who failed to pay for their oil and gas!
California: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech competition for your demise; video game maker Glu Mobile warning of mass layoffs after losing $8.6-million USD during its last quarter.
Colorado: In Colorado Springs, after more than 40 years Zerbe Jewelers shutting down due to family health problems.
Connecticut: General Electric (GE) eliminating 1-hundred local jobs as a result of moving its HQ to Massachusetts!
Florida: Stride Rite Shoes shutting down their Coral Square mall location in August, due to not being able to renew the lease.
Idaho: According to magicvalley.com in the past year and a half Idaho doctors were paid-off by drug companies, to the tune of $24-million USD of ‘incentives’! Now you know why so many people in The Gem State are wacked on evil prescription drugs! What housing market recovery? The Wilderness Society reports that most of the non-federally owned land in Idaho has been sold-off by the state government, resulting in “…lands in the hands of an elite few and Idaho’s biggest industries: the Simplot Corp., Potlatch, Boise-Cascade, cattle companies and law firms. Under these private ownerships, the new owners can lock out the public altogether or charge a trespass fee.” (also, you now know the real reason why rents are getting jacked up)
Illinois: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech competition for your demise; Chicago based e-coupon company Groupon laid off 30 people as part of their larger plan to eliminate 1-thousand 1-hundred jobs by 2016!
Indiana: What housing market recovery? Pennsylvania based home builder Innovative Building Systems shutting down its Decatur operations, 88 jobs gone within ten days. Administrators also mentioned that the landlord issued them an eviction notice.
Kentucky: Iconic gun maker Remington announced it is shutting down its Mayfield factory, 2-hundred jobs gone! Remington is joining the rest of corporate America in the consolidation trend, because their market analysis says they must become more “focused and competitive” in the near future. (once again proving there ain’t no economic recovery) Retailer ‘gordmans‘ shutting down its Hamburg Pavilion store because they can’t afford to renew the lease.
Maine: France based Sodexo lost its food contract with Colby College, 146 jobs gone by the end of June! What housing market recovery? After laying off 60 employees Kaiser Homes announced they are shutting down, 123 additional employees will become unemployed! The company is owned by now defunct Pennsylvania based Innovative Building Systems.
Massachusetts: In Worcester, after 60 years Hallmark Putnam Card & Gift shutting down, the owner blames too many other retailers selling Hallmark items. The employees are truly loyal: “I always said, ‘I’m going down with the ship.’…..I loved my job. We are trying to go out with dignity. We straighten, clean and vacuum every day.”-Betty Ann LeBlanc, store manager and employee for past 35 years
Ohio: Columbus Castings now up for sale after eliminating “more than 150 jobs”! If no buyer is found by mid-June then the whole thing shuts down, rendering hundreds more employees unemployed!
Pennsylvania: What housing market recovery? Mechanicsburg based home builder Innovative Building Systems is warning that it could go chapter 7 bankrupt (which usually means they’re dead forever). The bankruptcy will also affect All American Homes, Epoch Homes, excelHOMES, Future Homes, HandCrafted Homes, IDBS, Kaiser Homes and Modukraft, as they are all owned by Innovative Building Systems. Administrators say the Too Big to Jail banks refuse to continue debt financing their operations, and they tried to sell the company but nobody is interested in buying. In Carlisle, after 56 years Rillo’s Restaurant shutdown. The owner wants to retire and sold it to an investment group, adding “We do not know their plans or who they are negotiating with for this property.”
Texas: In Abilene, after 19 years Box Office Video shutting down: “We were the first store in Abilene to rent DVDs when they hit the market in 2000…… It is just too difficult to compete….”-Patti Harris, owner
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification. I found a 2010 AFL-CIO analysis (titled The Public Availability of WARN Notices: Lack of Accessibility and Disclosure…) which proves what I’ve been suspecting in my search of state WARN notices; most states are not complying with federal WARN regulations and are not publicizing or tracking mass layoffs.
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.”