Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.
Alabama: What automotive industry recovery? Brazil based brake parts maker Fras’le eliminating 50 jobs at its Prattville factory, by the end of February. Administrators blame crashing sales in Brazil and China, which are being exacerbated by international currency wars. 
In Fairfield, residents are lamenting the loss (before the end of this week) of the only major employer in town; Walmart. Local news reports say 264 jobs will be lost as a result! City councilman Darnell Gardner bemoaned “We’ve got a money problem! It’s going to be devastating once they close those doors. And I mean devastating!”
California: In Cathedral City, after 40 years restaurant El Gallito shutting down. The co-owners admitted their sales have been declining for some time saying “We were not ready to close 10 years ago, but we’re ready now.” In Arcata, after 67 years the Sierra Pacific sawmill shutdown, 123 jobs lost due to decreased consumer demand and increased costs of supplies: “When you have a facility that runs at only 50% capacity…..Then with your log supply being more expensive than it is in other areas, that’s just kind of a double whammy.”-Mark Lathrop
Colorado: In Denver, after a little more than three years Park House-Peacemaker’s Cajun Kitchen shutting down next week. The facebook posting didn’t explain why. Clothier GAP shutdown stores in Aurora and Loveland, as part of its ongoing plan to shutdown 175 stores.
Delaware: Wilmington based DuPont warning that it must eliminate as many as 6-thousand jobs by the end of the year due to crashing revenues! Administrators are blaming most of their revenue losses on international currency wars.
Florida: More layoffs by Coca-Cola, this time their Brandon finance office will lose about 70 jobs by the end of the week. In Naples, Keolis Transit eliminating 81 jobs by the end of March.
Massachusetts: Farmingham based Mitt Romney wunderkind Staples just eliminated “hundreds” of HQ jobs! Exact numbers were not given but unnamed sources admitted they were “preparing” for the possibility their merger with Office Depot will be blocked by the federal regulators. (never mind that hundreds to thousands will be laid off if the merger is approved) In Clinton, after 87 years (surviving The Great Depression and numerous recessions) the Old Timer restaurant shutting down this weekend. It’s been for sale ever since a co-owner died in 2013, obviously nobody wants to buy it.
Michigan: Beecher School District needs to cut costs and will do so with layoffs, pay cuts and even contracting out jobs that are currently in-house. Local news reports say the school district has less than 1-thousand students.
Minnesota: Maker of snowmobiles and ATVs, Medina based Polaris eliminated 1-hundred salaried jobs without warning, blaming unpredictable weather for crashing sales. Vacant positions will not be filled. Administrators admitted they had been trying to cut labor costs through attrition, but down sales forced them to conduct outright layoffs.
Missouri: Georgia based Printpack shutting down its Hazelwood food packaging factory, 115 jobs lost starting in March! Local news reports say the Hazelwood Printpack factory employed at least 3-hundred people at its peak in the late 1990s. Administrators did not say why they were shutting it down. In Amazonia, after 45 years Hunt Orchards shutting down. The current operators say they’re too old to carry on and hope somebody will lease the orchard, otherwise the property owner will sell to commercial developers.
New Hampshire: God’s River University is so desperate for students they are now offering a guarantee of employment upon graduation! If the student can’t get a job after six months of graduating from a bachelors program (undergraduate) then the university will pay for their masters program (graduate)!
New York: In NYC, Restaurant Associates lost their food service contract with Germany based Deutsche Bank, 59 jobs lost by April. Georgia based CNN shutting down their NEP Imaging ops in NYC, at least 12 jobs lost by the end of April.
North Carolina: In Cary, Connecticut based Xerox confirmed it laid off 178 people without warning! Administrators said it’s the result of losing a major client.
Ohio: Two banks merged, now local news sources are warning of major layoffs as a result of the Huntington Bancshares take-over of FirstMerit. The layoffs would take place by the end of the year. The city of Niles conducted “emergency” layoffs; at least 12 city employees now jobless after an official declaration of fiscal emergency. The mayor is now begging cash strapped local taxpayers to approve an increase in local taxes!
Oregon: Local news media discovered that Climax Portable Machining & Welding Systems is quietly laying off employees, and employees ordered not to talk about it. Local businesses providing logistical support to Climax are confirming the layoffs. An unnamed former employee said employees are being forced to sign a severance agreement which says they’ll lose their severance if they reveal the layoffs! The company was taken over by a California based Industrial Growth Partners in 2013. Local news media are speculating that the layoffs are being kept quiet in an attempt to keep a multi-year tax break, which states they must maintain employment levels at the time of the awarding of the tax break!
Pennsylvania: Reports say layoffs with GE Transportation being expanded to include salaried employees. Back in November, General Electric said 1-thousand 5-hundred train builders would be let go in 2016! The latest reports say GE admin refuses to give an exact number regarding the salaried employee layoffs. In Allentown, God refuses to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Saint John Vianney parish, in April. Parish administrators admitted they are $3-million USD in debt, and the church needs $1-million in repairs.
Rhode Island: Pawtucket based Microfibres shutting down three factories; one in North Carolina, Mississippi and Rhode Island. At least 3-hundred jobs lost! Administrators blame international currency wars for crashing sales in Russia and China.
Texas: Houston based Halliburton confirmed it eliminated an additional 4-thousand jobs during its 4th quarter of 2015! News reports say at this point the oil field service company has eliminated 22-thousand jobs!
Virginia: Norfolk based railroad transportation company Norfolk Southern is warning that it could layoff as many as 2-thousand employees! Believe it or not, the mass layoffs are part of their plan to ‘invest’ $2.1-billion USD into the company!
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
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.”