Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.
Arizona: In Yuma, a local business is blaming currency wars for its demise. After two years restaurant Carnivores of Yuma shutting down due to lack of Snow Birds from Canada. The Canadian dollar has dropped in value against the U.S. dollar, making it too expensive for many Canadians to travel within the United States. I lived in hot-as-hell Yuma for almost two years and I can tell you that Snow Birds from the north, during winter, are a major source of revenue for local mom-n-pops. The rest of the year revenues come from taxpayer funded Yuma Marine Corps Air Station and Yuma Army Proving Grounds.
Arkansas: In Little Rock, non-profit Lewis Burnett Employment Finders shutting down after 29 years of helping former prisoners find jobs. It’s blamed on health problems of the founder.
Connecticut: Governor Dannel Malloy is calling for the elimination of thousands of state jobs, by July! The gov’na also wants cuts to state benefits and pay in order to cut $500-million USD from the state budget. The first state employees to be laid off will be non-union members. Ohio based Xpect Discounts shutting down the last three of its stores in The Constitution State, 178 jobs lost by April!
Florida: BlackBerry issued a WARN for its Sunrise factory, 75 jobs lost by the end of the month.
Idaho: It’s been revealed that state Department of Parks and Recreation has been running on $70-thousand USD in private donations after running out of normal fees and taxpayer funding! The majority of the donations came from corporations Airstream and Cabela’s. State ‘lawmakers’ allowed Parks & Rec to beggar for donations last year, in order to offset massive state funding cuts.
Illinois: Chicago based employment analysts Challenger, Grey & Christmas report a 218% increase in U.S. job losses from December 2015 to January 2016! Even compared year to year (January 2015 vs January 2016) U.S. layoffs jumped 43%!
Indiana: In Fort Wayne, drugs pusher Walgreens shutting down their 20 years old store on Pettit Avenue. But don’t cry, local news reports say Walgreens has a monopoly on the Fort Wayne market, with at least 15 other drug pushing stores in the city.
Iowa: What automotive industry recovery? Ireland based Eaton announced it’s no longer worth it to continue its transmission factory in Shenandoah, 250 jobs lost within six months! Local news reported that at one point there were at least 1-thousand employees at the factory, between October 2015 and now hundreds were let go!
Kansas: After 50 years friend to unwanted pets Merriam Great Plains SPCA’s Lost Pet & Intake Center shutting down by the end of the month: “After being the center point of animal welfare in Johnson County for 50 years, the building just simply can’t keep up with the volume of animals. It’s been deteriorating beyond repair for the past several years.”-Courtney Thomas, CEO
Michigan: Flint based McLaren Medical Group eliminating 89 jobs by April. The layoffs will hit medical operations in four cities. In Muskegon County, maker of printing inks and paints SunChemical laid off 20 employees without warning, and then had them escorted off the work site.
New York: CNN forcing Maslow Media Group to issue a shutdown WARN for several NYC locations, 97 jobs lost by the end of April.
North Carolina: California based Too Big to Jail Wells Fargo continues to kill jobs, this time 87 people in Raleigh losing their jobs to “better align with current market volumes.”
Ohio: Oil pipe maker TMK-IPSCO laying off 106 employees, in Brookfield, within 60 days!
Pennsylvania: Texas based upChuck Cheese, I mean Chuck E. Cheese pizza joint shutting down in the Clearview Mall by the end of March.
South Carolina: South State Bank shutting down two Orangeburg offices, as part of bigger plans to shutdown offices across South Carolina and Georgia. It’s the result of South State Bank taking over failed Bank of America offices in 2015.
Tennessee: What automotive industry recovery? In Bristol DlhBOWLES shutting down, 1-hundred jobs lost by April! The company makes parts for the automotive and other industries, the shutdown is the result of two companies merging; DLH and Bowles Fluidics.
Texas: In Austin, restaurant Arro shutting down on Friday, apparently it’s being turned into a bar.
Virginia: Catabwa Hospital shutting down as part of the governor’s plan to shutdown mental health hospitals.
Washington DC: National debt now at record $19-trillion USD! $1-trillion in debt added in the past 13 months!
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.”