Layoffs spike in U.S., Europe as virus shuts businesses
Millions of workers suddenly find themselves in financial limbo
WASHINGTON — Just a couple of weeks ago, Erika Vega hoped her temp job at a cafeteria would soon become permanent. But instead, the viral outbreak shut down the building where she worked and left her wondering where her next paycheck will come from.
Like millions of Americans and people around the world, the viral outbreak has left Vega in financial limbo, without income as her bills pile up. The U.S. and global economies have come to a shuddering stop, unleashing a wave of layoffs that is much larger and moving much faster than job losses in previous downturns. They are swamping state unemployment benefits systems and leaving many Americans still working anxious about whether they will be next.
Vega, 45, worked as a food preparer and dishwasher at a lower Manhattan office tower until March 12. The company that owned the cafeteria liked her work and said they wanted to hire her permanently. But she was still a temp when the building closed, and her staffing agency says it has no more work available because the city has shut down bars and restaurants.
“The people who worked for the company get paid to stay home, but I don’t,” she said. “Everybody wants to be safe and be at home, but at the same time, we have bills that need to be paid.”
Tens of thousands of laid-off workers have already flooded state unemployment websites across the country to apply for jobless benefits. In the week ending March 14, the number of people seeking unemployment aid soared
by 70,000 to 281,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.
That figure is still low historically, but it could soon surpass the record high of 650,000 in January 2009.
Many states are already reporting big increases in benefit applications this week, which weren’t included in Thursday’s figures.
In Ohio this week, more than 48,000 people applied for jobless benefits Monday and Tuesday. That’s up from 1,825 in the same two days the prior week.
And in neighboring Pennsylvania, about 70,000 people sought unemployment aid Tuesday, six times the total for the entire previous week. A flood of claims has crashed unemployment claims websites in New York, New Jersey and states across the nation.
Layoffs are rippling through many companies, large and small. Each one means less income for those out of work, forcing them to cut spending, which can push still more businesses to cut jobs.
On Thursday, a union official said hundreds of workers were being laid off at Philadelphia International Airport. Gabe Morgan of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union told the Philadelphia Inquirer an estimated 600 to 1,000 of its members will lose their jobs through Monday.
Marriott International said Tuesday it has begun to furlough tens of thousands of employees. Furloughs are essentially temporary layoffs. Furloughed workers can receive unemployment benefits. The three major American automakers are temporarily shutting their North American factories, idling 150,000 workers. So are Toyota and Honda.
Smaller companies have shut their doors with little time to prepare. Restaurants, bars, movie theaters, gyms and other firms have been ordered to close by states and cities. In Portland, Ore., longtime independent bookseller Powell’s closed its five stores last weekend and has since laid off more than 300 workers. Compass Coffee, a small chain in Washington, D.C., has laid off 150 workers, or about 80 percent of its staff.
The travel industry is at risk of being particularly devastated, with airlines grounding planes and hotels increasingly empty. The U.S. Travel Association predicts that 4.6 million jobs in the industry could be lost, which by itself would push the unemployment rate to 6.3 percent, from its current level of 3.5 percent.
Jon Bortz, CEO of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, which owns 54 hotels in major cities including New York, San Francisco and Seattle, said occupancy levels have dropped into the single digits. The company has laid off more than 4,000 of its 8,000 employees, and it is likely to let go another 2,000 by the end of March, he said.
“We are looking at closing the doors at more than half of our properties,” he said.
Vega is just one of more than 315,000 restaurant workers in New York, many of whom are undocumented and therefore ineligible for unemployment benefits.
She said her husband was scheduled to have hernia surgery next week, but he was told the hospitals are overwhelmed and the operation has been postponed. Her husband is still working for New York’s bike sharing program, Citi Bike, sanitizing bicycles.
“At least one of us is still working, but I don’t know how much longer he can go on like that,” she said.
In Europe, job losses are piling up by the hundreds of thousands, though solid figures are not yet available.
Airlines have announced tens of thousands of job cuts already, including 7,300 at Norwegian Air alone, while U.K. airline Flybe collapsed with a loss of 2,000 jobs.
The auto industry is also likely to suffer. In Spain, about 100,000 people have been laid off already by one estimate, with Volkswagen’s local unit putting 14,000 on temporary unpaid leave after idling production.
In Las Vegas, Nev., where the governor has ordered casinos, restaurants and other nonessential businesses to close for 90 days, Andrea Henderson has been laid off from her job as a dealer supervisor at the Bellagio resort and casino. She was laid off once before, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but that was only for five days. This time, no one knows how long it will last.
“If it stretches into three months, then we’ve got a problem,” she said. “We’re just hoping that it doesn’t extend into the late spring. That would suck.”