Incomplete list of U.S. job loss announcements and shutdowns.
California: In San Diego, iconic record store Off The Record shutting down: “It’s a number of reasons: Finances, gentrification of the neighborhood, the raising of rent, the fact that this neighborhood has transitioned from a place to shop to a place to drink…”-Paul Russe, manager
“Licensing can become a powerful tool to limit innovation and competition and act to limit upward mobility.”–Occupational Licensing: Bad for Competition, Bad for Low-Income Workers
Delaware: Governor Jack Markell is blaming high unemployment on the fact that more than 25% of jobs require some kind of license. The cost and time needed to get those licenses is a major barrier for many people interested in those jobs. Markell ordered a review of employment (occupational) licensing regulations in Delaware.
Idaho: In Boise, christian healthcare scammer Saint Luke’s Regional Medical Center has been found in violation of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). In 2015 an employee reported to the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) that Saint Luke’s was not ‘coding’ certain time off as FMLA. The DoL reviewed two years worth of “hundreds” of employee records and concluded that Saint Luke’s “…failed to ensure that all employees on FMLA-covered leave received all the protections…” Interestingly the DoL determination, and resulting Saint Luke’s resolution actually took place in November 2015, but only now is being made public! In February I reported how Saint Luke’s was caught stealing local property taxes!
Illinois: Local news reports say Harper College in Palatine, and College of Lake County in Grayslake, laid off about 49 employees due to the failed ‘elected’ lawmakers’ budget battles.
Louisiana: The A-Hole Jefferson Parish Council was pushing to outlaw their own parish appointees and attorneys from having a second job! Their paranoia was put to rest when parish president Mike Yenni revealed there are already regulations prohibiting such behavior.
Michigan: In Coldwater, after 44 years Taylor’s Stationary shutting down this week, the building has a new owner.
Nebraska: In Hastings, a former manager of the local Holiday Inn is paying a $5-hundred USD fine and serving one year of probation after being caught employing an illegal immigrant as a supervisor. The case involves another hotel run by Kearney Hospitality. The illegal immigrant left Kearney Hospitality after it was discovered that the U.S. Social Security Administration (SS) was investigating the employee’s legality. Federal prosecutors say an administrator with Kearney Hospitality told the manager of the Holiday Inn to change the name of the employee on the employment records because of the SS investigation. The administrator with Kearney Hospitality will be sentenced next month.
New Hampshire: Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine laying off 30 people, and conducting restructuring that will affect 285 employees! The 285 are being considered for transfer to Dartmouth-Hitchcock. 
In Milford, Eversource (Public Service of New Hampshire) shutting down their Elm Street electric station. This has people upset as Eversource claims demand for power is doubling and has proposed bringing in electricity from British empire Canada, as well as jacking up utility rates to pay for natural gas. Eversource is also dealing with numerous lawsuits.
New York: Quantum Medical Imaging shutting down their medical instrument factory in Ronkonkoma, 83 jobs lost between July and November. 
NYC based EmblemHealth warning of “several hundred” layoffs in their Information Technology (IT) department! The IT jobs are being outsourced to cheap-o contractors as part of ObamaCare “modernization” of the healthcare industry. Sears Holdings issued a WARN for the shutdown of the Irondequoit and Plattsburgh Sears stores, 154 jobs lost by the end of July! In Plattsburgh, Nova Bus/Prevost eliminating 70 jobs, apparently due to reduction of taxpayer funding of public transportation (administrators called it a reduction in “market demand”). In Sidney, tax-sucker Amphenol Aerospace laid off at least 90 employees blaming a sudden ‘stop order’ by U.S. Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime. In Albion, after almost six years the owners of Bindings Bookstore suddenly announced it’ll shutdown this week. Sales are good, but not good enough for the owners and they’re trying trying to sell it off.
North Dakota: In Mandan, after 17 years the Dollar Store shutting down, the building was sold to a chiropractic clinic.
Ohio: In Toledo, after 40 years pawn shop Standard Loan shutting down when the inventory is gone. The owner told local news sources that he’s financially broke.
Pennsylvania: In Hazleton, after 65 years Fierro Furniture shutting down.
South Carolina: In Orangeburg, Regional Medical Center laying off 33 employees, cutting hours for 27 and eliminating 30 vacant jobs. Because of ObamaCare the hospital needs to cut $4.9-million USD in expenses!
Texas: Massive oil industry layoffs have revealed a major lie about ObamaCare. One of the promises of the Affordable Care Act was that people who were not employed, or who lost their jobs, would still be covered for healthcare under ObamaCare. A Houston Chronicle investigation found that most oil industry survivors have learned they don’t qualify for ObamaCare: “In the U.S., losing your job could mean losing your health insurance. Most other countries don’t do this. …The ACA, if anything, entrenched our dependence on employer-provided health insurance….. That’s the hole. It is contrary to the spirit of the law.”-Jessica Roberts, University of Houston’s Law Center
Washington: A little more than a month after killing 120 IT jobs, Seattle based retailer Nordstrom announced it must layoff an additional 4-hundred employees! Administrators blame it on crashing sales.
Washington DC: The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) is trying to push two changes with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); discrimination and how workers are paid. At the same time the U.S. Congress is trying to block those changes, accusing the DoL EEOC of failing to investigate 76-thousand cases of employer discrimination of employees! In a connected case, the U.S. Census Bureau has admitted to intentionally discriminating against ‘minority’ citizens with criminal backgrounds. The Census Bureau is settling a lawsuit accusing it of refusing to employ ‘minorities’ who have completed prison sentences after being convicted of a crime. The amount it will cost taxpayers has yet to be revealed, but it is being called a “landmark” case of discrimination by a federal government employer.
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
22-23 April 2016: “It makes zero sense”
Sears Kmart update 21 April 2016 : “A lot of customers don’t even believe this”
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.”