An Unexpected Company is Now Laying Off Hundreds in Washington

June 28, 2024

An unexpected company is now laying off hundreds in Washington, part of its latest effort to cut costs and streamline operations.

It’s important to note that under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, an employer with more than 100 full-time workers must provide a 60-day notice before laying off 50 or more people at a single site.

These notices must be filed with the Washington Employment Security Department.

McKinley Paper Company has filed a WARN notice advising that a total of 190 employees in Port Angeles will be permanently laid off on August 25.

The company operates three paper-producing facilities in New Mexico, Washington and Wisconsin.

These facilities have a combined capacity of approximately 1 Million tons/yr and represent a new generation of high-tech, environmentally friendly mills that produce 100% recycled paper, without cutting any trees.

However, McKinley Paper Company isn’t the only business who has advised of upcoming layoffs in Washington state.

Below is a list of businesses laying off in Washington this year:

Roy Farms laid off 129 staff in Moxee.
Ardagh Glass is laying off 244 employees in Seattle on July 1.
New Columbia Fruit Packers is closing a facility in Yakima, which means 216 employees will be laid off on August 16.
Prestige Care is laying off 150 staff in Vancouver.
Amazon is closing a warehouse facility in Tukwila where 172 staff work.
Lululmeon filed a layoff notice advising that 128 staff in Sumner lost their jobs on June 21.
Online travel agency Expedia advised 36 staff in their Seattle office will be laid off on August 1
Block laid staff in its Vancouver office on June 3.
Plug Power is closing at the end of June, resulting in the loss of 107 jobs in the Spokane Valley.
Pfizer closed a facility in Everitt, and 119 staff lost their jobs on June 3
TEKSystems laid off 86 staff in their Redmond office on May 25.
BAE Systems laid off 54 staff in Keyport and Silverdale.
The American Queen Steamboat Company is ceasing operations, resulting in 508 staff in Clarkston and Vancouver losing their jobs.
76 staff at Output Services Group in Renton lost their jobs.
AIDC USA laid off staff in Bothell on May 11.

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Also Read: Retirees Will Now Receive More Money For Social Security

Other Economy News Today

Applications for unemployment benefits now surge to new highs, a sign that the white-hot labor market is starting to cool off.

First-time applications for unemployment benefits rose last week to 231,000, the highest level since August, per CNN.

Thursday’s data also showed that the number of continuing claims, or applications from people who have filed for unemployment for at least one week, was 1.78 million.

That’s an increase of 17,000 from the prior week, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The latest numbers come less than a week after the monthly jobs report showed the US economy added just 175,000 positions in April, less than economists expected and a steep drop-off from prior months.

US employers have now added an average of 245,500 jobs per month, versus 2023’s 251,000-per-month average.

Still, hiring remains strong. Although the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9% last month, it’s the 27th consecutive month that the jobless rate has held under 4%, matching a streak last seen in the late 1960s.

Weekly jobless claims data tends to be volatile but, while one week’s worth of data “does not a trend make,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at Fwdbonds.

“We can no longer be sure that calm seas lie ahead for the US economy if today’s weekly jobless claims are any indication.”

“Company layoffs are picking up, hinting at caution on the part of companies as they weigh the outlook for the second half of the year,” he wrote in a note Thursday.

The Federal Reserve has been battling inflation by raising its key lending rate in the hopes of slowing the economy.

While the labor market has so far resisted those efforts, remaining white hot for the past 18 months despite 11 rate hikes from the central bank, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said last week that demand has “cooled from its extremely high level of a couple of years ago.”

Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Economics said in a note Thursday: “We’d need to see at least a month of elevated readings to convince us that the trend really has turned.”

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Also Read: A Giant Company Now Announces Unexpected Layoffs in Virginia

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