Two Surprising Companies Are Now Laying Off Hundreds in Texas

June 28, 2024

Two surprising companies are now laying off hundreds in Texas according to fresh notices filed with the state’s Workforce Commission.

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 60 days’ notice before laying off 50 or more people at a single site.

Ardagh Glass Packaging is laying off a total of 220 employees in Houston on July 1.

The second company is Southeast Service Corporation Services For Education, which is laying off a total 65 staff in Kingsville.

Last week, two other businesses also advised of upcoming layoffs in Texas.

The Compass Group/Fresh & Ready Foods are laying off a total of 65 employees in Dallas on August 30.

And Charter Communications, also known as Spectrum, is planning to lay off a total of 230 employees at its Austin call center in August.

According to a spokesperson, the decision came as the company prepared to shut down the Austin facility.

Approximately 36,772 workers across Texas have been laid off since the beginning of the year, a substantial increase from the 26,161 job losses recorded during the same period in 2023, according to a Challenger Gray report.

This layoff spike has cast a shadow over the state’s employment landscape, leaving many families grappling with financial uncertainty and job insecurity.

Hiring announcements have also plunged by a staggering 50% compared to the previous year.

Across the United States, employers have announced plans to hire just 50,833 workers, the lowest total in the first five months of a year since 2014.

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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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