Posted on 04/24/2009 3:14:38 AM PDT by Son House
Oklahoma businesses experienced 17 mass layoffs that cut 1,483 jobs in March, level with the previous month, but substantially less than the 21 layoffs that cost 2,772 state jobs in January.
Nationally, employers took 2,933 mass layoff actions in March that resulted in the separation of 299,388 workers on a seasonally adjusted basis, setting a record according to data back to 1995.
Manufacturing was hardest hit, experiencing 1,259 mass layoffs that resulted in 155,909 new unemployment claims. Manufacturing accounted for 43 percent of all mass layoffs and 50 percent of initial unemployment claims in March.
A mass layoff event is defined as one resulting in initial unemployment insurance claims affecting at least 50 employees during a five-week period.
Lynn Gray, chief economist for the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, said the latest layoff numbers and related data demonstrate a labor market continuing to decline.
“Our unemployment rate has increased over the past few months at a fairly rapid pace,” he said.
The national unemployment rate was 8.5 percent in March, up from 8.1 percent in February and 5.1 percent a year earlier.
Oklahoma’s unemployment rate hit 5.9 percent in March, up from 5.5 percent in February and 3.3 percent for March 2008.
Gray said Oklahoma has been losing jobs over the last few months.
He cautioned that mass layoff numbers can bounce around substantially from one month to another. “But they’re still elevated over what we would typically see in March,” Gray said.
He pointed out that the state experienced only 868 reported mass layoffs in March 2008, with 1,178 in March 2007, 968 in March 2006, and 939 in March 2005, but 3,200 in March of 2004 after months of only 400 or so.
“You can have a layoff, some type of strike or something, that can really cause your claims to spike on this particular data point,” Gray said.
However, he said the increased numbers reinforce the point that the labor market has weakened over the past six months or so.
Gray said Oklahoma manufacturing has been hard hit, as the sector has on the national level.
“It’s a cyclical industry,” he said. “We did have some hedge against it early on in this recession, I think mostly because of higher energy prices. We have significant parts of our manufacturing industry which have strong linkages to oil and gas. But I think that hedge has somewhat lessened in these past few months. We’re seeing some significant declines there, in that industry.”
National mass layoffs in March rose 164 from February, with an increase of 3,911 unemployment claims. March layoffs exceeded the same month last year by 1,348, with an increase of 137,891 joblessness claims. From December 2007 through last month, the seasonally adjusted number of mass layoffs totaled 31,414, with a reduction of 3,227,201 jobs.
At 38,130, California recorded the highest number of initial unemployment claims because of mass layoffs in March, followed by Illinois (18,096), Texas (14,284) and Ohio (13,067).
“On the national level, this is a particularly deep recession, in terms of labor markets for the country as a whole,” Gray said.
The current recession will be the longest since the first part of the Great Depression, when the nation encountered two recessions, he said.
“It’s working its way to being one of the worst since that period as well, Gray said.
Oklahoma March mass layoff notices included Tyson Foods facilities in Ponca City, with 606 employees affected; Weyerhaeuser in Wright City, 175 employees; American Woodmark, Tahlequah, 107; Sportsman’s Warehouse, Oklahoma City, 63 employees; Jackie Cooper Transport Co., Oklahoma City, 36; and Anderson Services Inc., Oklahoma City, 69 employees.
Tyson announced its plans to close its Ponca City processed meats plants and move production to other plants out of state at the end of March. Ponca City government and development officials said other businesses would be able to absorb the unemployed Tyson workers, but perhaps not immediately.
The company plans to start the closings in late May, with completion by July or August.
Tyson said increased costs of raw materials over the fourth quarter of 2008 affected the profitability of its prepared-foods unit, making up 11 percent of sales.
You also will need to put an end to some of the bad Free Trade deals....looks like quite a number of manufacturing jobs were lost....and the USA needs to return to its manufacturing base...not rely on Communist China.
Lower taxes, end Free Trade....and this economy starts rolling again....returning to its manufacturing roots
Democrats party before Country.
I have been laid off since last novemeber, I go back to work next monday.
They laid someone off just for me I guess cause we will be short one worker.
After all I do have 14 years on the job.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.