An Unexpected Company is Now Laying Off 100 in Massachusetts

July 15, 2024

An unexpected company is now laying off 100 in Massachusetts by early September, according to a state filing.

Yankee Candle Inc. is closing down its South Deerfield, Mass., distribution center and offices on Sept. 9, according to a new state filing.

Newell Brands, Yankee Candle’s parent company, says they plan to lay off approximately 100 employees.

Newell Brands initially announced downsizing in January of last year, but now are officially disclosing the closing date of the specific 27 Yankee Candle Way offices, per Boston.com.

The facility will remain open, but will now serve as an auxiliary warehouse for Yankee Candle and other Newell Brand products.

“There are no changes to our other Yankee Candle operations in Western Massachusetts.

Yankee was founded in the area, and we are committed to maintaining a strong local presence with our flagship Yankee Candle Village store and various research, manufacturing, distribution and office facilities,” a spokesperson for Newell Brands said in a statement.

The same statement confirmed that all employees who are laid off will receive what the company calls “transition benefits.”

Newell Brands, which also owns Rubbermaid and Sharpie, laid off around 13 percent of their office positions in 2023 due to a restructuring plan.

Yankee Candle was founded over 5 decades ago in South Deerfield.

Yankee Candle Village, the main factory and candle store, opened in 1983.

Newell Brands acquired Yankee Candle, Inc. back in 2016.

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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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