[Source: The Business Times] Layoffs and discharges are starting to pile up at America’s smallest firms. Some 305,000 workers lost their jobs in October at businesses with less than 10 employees, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS). That’s up by 137,000 from the previous month. It was the biggest Read More…
Tag: unemployment
California’s gas tax is going up again. Amid coronavirus, some say now is not the time
[Source: Los Angeles Times] California’s gas tax is set to increase July 1, but some lawmakers are calling for a freeze on the higher levy, citing the financial burden of the coronavirus-spawned recession on millions of the state’s residents. The automatic increase pegged to inflation — the third increase in the last four years — Read More…
Covid-19 cuts deep into LA jobs
[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] It’s no surprise that L.A.’s economy has been walloped by coronavirus-driven business shutdowns, but the extent of the damage and how much worse L.A. County has fared only became apparent with the release of data for April. The state Employment Development Department reported on May 22 that L.A. County’s April Read More…
California to borrow federal money to cover soaring jobless claims
[Source: Los Angeles Times] California has been approved to borrow what is expected to be billions of dollars from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits to those left jobless by the coronavirus pandemic, raising concerns about the cost of repaying the debt. The state made the request as its reserves for paying unemployment benefits Read More…
There’s a growing possibility of a W-shaped economic recovery — and it’s scary
[Source: The Washington Post] There are growing concerns that any economic recovery later this year could prove short-lived because of a possible deadly resurgence of the novel coronavirus and a late spike in bankruptcies and defaults, a wicked combination that could cause households and businesses that barely survived the spring lockdown to go under later Read More…
California’s growth slowdown continues in August as the state loses 8,200 job
[Source: Los Angeles Times] California’s slowing economic expansion was evident in August as the state lost 8,200 net jobs and the unemployment rate rose to 5.1%, from 4.8% a month earlier, according to data released Friday from the state’s Employment Development Department. The drop in employment follows a robust July in which the Golden State Read More…
EPA workforce shrinking to Reagan-era levels: agency official
[Source: Reuters] The workforce at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on course to fall to its lowest level since Ronald Reagan was president, an agency official said on Tuesday. In June, the EPA unveiled a buyout program that would contribute to the biggest cuts of any federal agency in President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget Read More…
Hundreds laid off at Ashley Furniture factory/warehouse in Colton
[Source: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin] About 840 employees at an Ashley Furniture HomeStore factory/warehouse in Colton were laid off Friday. “They told us to go into a meeting, and all of a sudden they tried to feed us and they said, ‘You know what, there’s no more jobs,” said Israel Naja, 37, outside the store Read More…
California Assembly OKs measure to raise minimum wage to $15
[Source: ABC News] The California Assembly on Thursday green-lighted a plan that would create the highest statewide minimum wage in the nation of $15 an hour by 2022. The proposal now moves on to the state Senate for consideration. The state of New York is considering a similar measure. Gov. Jerry Brown and Democrats who Read More…