Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.

‘Wall Street’ analysts are finally admitting we could be in a Depression: Chilling ways the global economy echoes 1930s Great Depression era

Arkansas: Bentonville based Walmart reported yet another quarterly decline in profits.  This time, for the 2015 end of year holiday season their profits fell 8%.  Ho ho ho, Merry Xmas everyone!  Administrators blame currency wars and their own plans to shutdown at least 2-hundred stores (which they included in their 4th quarter 2015 report even though the shutdowns didn’t start until 2016, mmmm, more bookkeeping shell games).

Connecticut: Germany based drugs maker Boehringer Ingelheim conducting more layoffs, management at their Danbury plant refused to say how many people will lose their jobs.  And an update to the employee relocation contractor Cartus Corporation layoffs,  unnamed employees told local news that at least 1-hundred people were let go last week!

Florida: Best Wishes of Boca shutting down.  Local news reports say the gift shop lasted 40 years because of its competitive prices, but failed to explain why it’s shutting down.  In Jacksonville, wholesaler CEVA Logistics issued a WARN saying 93 people will lose their jobs in April.

Idaho: The city of Boise being sued by some of the tenants at the Boise International Airport.  Tenants also suing the New York based food service management contractor hired by the city, Delaware North.  Owners of airport eateries accuse Delaware North, and the city, of running them into the ground, primarily by substituting their products with lower quality items and providing terrible customer service, resulting in decreased sales.  Boise area news sources say Delaware North refuses to responded to their questions.

Illinois: Moline based farm equipment maker Deere (aka John Deere) revised its 2016 profit expectations downward.  Originally administrators thought 2016 sales would drop by 7%, but now they say things are so bad they expect a 10% drop in sales.

Mississippi:  New York based Saks Fifth Avenue shutting down their Outlets of Mississippi mall store by mid-March.  Local news reports gave no reason.  In Oxford, after nine years Holli’s Sweet Tooth shutting down in April, the owner blames non-stop increasing costs of operation that now exceed sales.

Missouri:  What auto industry recovery?  Discount Auto Protection shocked 60 employees by sending them a text message saying they were now unemployed and there would be no final paychecks!  That final paycheck was three weeks worth of work!  I’ve said it before; been there, experienced that.  Except in my case my employer didn’t even notify us and we lost four weeks of pay (we were paid once per month).  Still, most people still refuse to believe you can be laid off and lose your final paycheck, especially if your employer legally ceases to exist.

New Jersey:  Sears Holdings confirmed the Lodi Kmart will shutdown in April, 75 jobs lost. 

New York:   Palio shutting down their Saratoga Springs office.  No word on how many jobs will be lost, but one news report said at one time the advertising agency had at least 1-hundred employees.    H.P. Neun shutting down their packaging ops in Lyons and Seneca Falls, 93 jobs lost by the end of May.  The WARN said the company was forced to sell their assets.

North Carolina:  Durham based ad agency McKinney laid off 34 full time employees, due to the loss of a major client.  In Winston-Salem, after 4 decades iconic Ziggy’s nightclub shutdown due to the greedy landlord.  The owners of Ziggy’s swear they even offered to pay a full years worth of rent in advance, but the landlord refused!

Ohio: Anti-gun laws failed to stop a man from attacking customers at the Nazareth Restaurant and Deli, with a machette!  Four people were wounded.  The restaurant has shutdown for an undetermined amount of time: “We need more time to regroup and heal as a team.”-Facebook post

Oregon: After ending service in January, Portland based SeaPort Airlines is now officially chapter 11 bankrupt busted.

Pennsylvania: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high tech for your demise; West Chester based shopping channel QVC eliminating at least 1-hundred jobs in the U.S. by the end of the year, as it off-shores them to Poland!  It was also revealed that QVC eliminated 147 U.S. jobs in November 2015!  What automotive industry recovery?  Aluminum maker Alcoa is about to split off its car parts operations, but before it does at least 90 people will lose their jobs in New Kensington.  Last year 50 people were laid off.  Reports say Alcoa is shifting to a new 3-D parts printing operation elsewhere in the state.  God powerless to stop the Diocese of Erie from shutting down four of ‘his’ grade schools; Venango Catholic high school and Saint Boniface, Saint Peter Cathedral and Our Lady of Mount Carmel elementary schools.  Church leaders blame The Rapture, I mean low enrollment.  What construction industry recovery?  In Ambridge, SBC Building Systems shutting down, 80 jobs gone by April.

Washington DC: The U.S. Department of Labor reports that ObamaCare (Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act) health insurance costs jumped by at least 4.8% in 2015.  That’s faster than the official rate of inflation in 2015.

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.”