Surprising Wisconsin Company is Now Laying Off Thousands of Workers

By Frank Nez

July 21, 2024

A surprising Wisconsin company is now laying off thousands of workers in Fond du Lac, according to a spokesperson.

Approximately 1,700 hourly employees will be affected by ‘short-term layoffs’ at Mercury Marine.

Employees say they were surprised about the announcement and are nervous about the future, per NBC 26.

The affected employees will lose eight weeks of work, broken up into two week increments.

When the company was asked if more layoffs are coming, Mercury said it will “continue to monitor demand.”

The news comes after the company laid off more than 400 employees earlier this year.

A memo to employees obtained by NBC 26 shows that from early July through November, affected hourly workers will each lose eight weeks of work, broken up into two week increments.

Gordon said the 1,700 employees won’t be paid during the short-term layoffs that take place in two-week increments, but they can apply for unemployment.

I spoke with several workers who are going through the layoffs, including a man whose identity we agreed to disguise to protect his job.

“It’s really going to cut into a lot of people with budgets,” the employee said.

“Some friends that I know work there are going to fall behind on child support because they’re not making the money they they would normally be making.”

He said even if he collects unemployment, he’ll only get about half of his paycheck.

He said he’s looking for another job, but is struggling to find one that will pay as much as Mercury and is near Fond du Lac.

“It’s going to hurt a lot of people, especially in the pocketbook… there’s just no way to make up the difference,” the employee said.

In a statement, spokesperson Lee Gordon said: “Mercury continues to grow market-share around the world and still employs thousands of people in Wisconsin and will continue to do so – but right now, it’s not sufficient to fully offset the overall market headwinds.”

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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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