Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
California: In San Jose, after ten years “ultra lounge” Fahrenheit shutdown. The operator blames the property owner for jacking up the rent, saying the cost to do business in San Jose is “on a more rapid upswing”.
Kentucky: In Louisville, after five years Hillbilly Tea shutdown without warning.
Louisiana: After promising to hire 8-hundred people in exchange for $20-million USD in state tax breaks, Monroe based cable-phone-internet service provider CenturyLink announced they will eliminate 1-thousand jobs across the U.S., administrators blame crashing profits, partly caused by ObamaCare: “CenturyLink’s results for the second quarter were below our forecast and Street consensus, primarily due to continued pressure on wholesale revenues and higher employee and benefit costs.”
Mississippi: Oregon based ESCO laid off 56 people at their Newton ops: “Despite the continuous best efforts of those in Newton, and the Mining Division in general, demand for mining products has not resumed to a level that will support ESCO’s current manufacturing capacity levels.”
New Hampshire: God refuses to stop ‘his’ 50 years old Pelham Saint Patrick Catholic School from shutdown. It’s called The Rapture, I mean enrolment has crashed to just 32 students! (I call it Disappearing Students Syndrome)
North Carolina: The 352 years old (surviving French-n-Indian War, Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War 1, Great Depression, World War 2, Korean conflict, Vietnam conflict, Desert Storm, War on Terror)“Relevant since 1663” state militia has shutdown and sold two National Guard armories to local municipalities on orders from the federal National Guard Bureau: “It’s kind of like chopping off the finger of a community. But that’s just the realities, the Army is getting smaller and we are getting smaller.”-Mike Waite, National Guard Association
Texas: In San Antonio, after 37 years the small amusement park Malibu Grand Prix & Castle shutting down in September. The operators blame the property owner for jacking up the rent.
West Virginia: The 113 years old Kanawha Manufacturing Company revealed they’ve been eliminating jobs, and blame the crashing coal mining industry: “We are reducing and reforming our operations to reflect the new reality of the markets we serve.”
Wisconsin: In Columbus, Hydro Street Brewing & Eatery shutdown after failing to pay back a taxpayer funded loan. In Oshkosh, Packers Pub, known for making customers “feel at home”, shutdown after 38 years of serving drinks to locals.
07 August 2015:“We’re in a dire state!”
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
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.”