Central Mass. Not Immune To Layoffs | Region is spared major cuts, but unemployment rolls still climb
A look at the largest layoffs announced for Central Massachusetts over the past few months might not elicit the same kinds of gasps as similar numbers for Detroit, or even Boston.
But that doesn’t mean that plenty of people haven’t lost their jobs.
Losses have come from big and small employers, from successful companies girding for tough times and from troubled ones forced to restructure or close.
By The Numbers
Between December 2007 and December 2008, the number of people collecting unemployment in southern Worcester County jumped 46 percent, climbing from 7,086 to 10,346, according to data from the state Department of Workforce Development.
In the north county, it increased 52 percent from 3,507 to 5,348. In “metro south west,” a region that includes MetroWest and Boston’s western suburbs, it rose 61 percent from 5,449 to 8,789. So, on average, Central Massachusetts saw claims for unemployment rise approximately 53 percent.
But those numbers don’t include the recently announced layoffs in the region. One of the largest layoff announcements came Jan. 8 from EMC Corp. of Hopkinton. The data storage company said that, between the start of 2009 and the middle of 2010, it expects to reduce its total workforce by 2,400, or about 7 percent, including 600 job cuts in Massachusetts.
But EMC is far from an unhealthy company. It reported record revenue of $14.9 billion in 2008, a 12 percent increase over the previous year. EMC spokesman Patrick Cooley said the company made the layoffs only after reducing other costs like real estate, outside contractors and travel by 10s of millions of dollars a year.
“From [President and CEO] Joe Tucci’s perspective, he’s said a few times that it’s one of the hardest decisions he’s had to make,” Cooley said.
Wisconsin-based electronic manufacturing service company Plexus Corp. announced the closure of a production plant in Ayer, eliminating 170 jobs, despite making $84.1 million in profits in 2008.
In its annual report, the company explained the closure of the plant without even alluding to the current recession. Instead, it said it could provide greater value from other locations.
Rhode-Island-based fabric company Cranston Print Works Co. recently announced it would stop manufacturing products in Webster, eliminating 70 local jobs. Division President Andrew Sylvia said the final straw was the recession, but more general market trends were also a big factor in the decision. “A lot of our new ventures are product lines that can’t be produced in this factory,” he said, adding that the company has been outsourcing more work to other countries in recent years.
For other companies, layoffs in Central Massachusetts were definitively tied to market downturns. Fabric Place, a Framingham-based family-owned business, shut down in the fall, eliminating 135 jobs at the headquarters and in Fitchburg, Newton and Needham.
ACT Electronics of Hudson also closed its doors in November. Sarah Cressey, president and CEO of the Assabet Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the 10-year-old computer cable company had once employed about 2,200 people but declined fast in recent years. At the time of the closure, the company listed only 81 laid-off employees in its filing with the state under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
Some larger companies also acknowledge that their cuts are a reaction to hard times that have put them in a serious bind. German shipping company DHL announced in November that it would discontinue air and ground shipping within the U.S., eliminating 9,500 jobs. Spokesman Robert Mintz said that included 40 employees at a Shrewsbury location that closed in January.
Then there are other companies that have announced no mass layoffs but have quietly let go of a handful of employees as business declined.
Don Anderson, director of Workforce Central Career Center in Worcester, said that scenario actually represents much of the job loss he’s seen. “Almost like the tide goes down a bit,” he said. “All boats sink a bit.”
And Anderson said the unemployment claims people he works with see newly laid-off workers coming in from across all industries.
“I said ‘What patterns are you seeing?’” he said. “They say ‘People from just all over.’”
Indeed, the state data shows a jump in the numbers of people collecting unemployment for just about every industry. Between December 2007 and December 2008, the ranks of unemployed people in the sales field in southern Worcester County rose from 535 to 728. Unemployment in construction and extraction leapt from 1,186 to 1,798. Among health practitioners and technical employees the numbers rose from 118 to 176.
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