Hurricane drove up Fla. job cuts

Hourly employees among hardest hit

Hurricane Irma drove job cuts sharply upward in October, with Florida employers trimming 2,363 jobs, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in its monthly job report Thursday. That’s a threefold increase from 561 job cuts last October.

Year-to-date job cuts also were higher: 13,286 compared with 11,169.

The Sept. 10-11 storm resulted in business closures and power outages that led to hourly employees in particular losing paid work time or being laid off. For employees who lost work because of power outages or other damage to their place of work, disaster unemployment benefits are available through Nov. 14.

The Ritz-Carlton on South Beach was one example. The hotel laid off 281 employees in an ex- tended closure after Hurricane Irma. The 375-room hotel at 1 Lincoln Road said it will remain closed for renovations.

Other South Florida layoffs during the month included Hawks Cay resort in Duck Cay, which laid off 260 employees but is working to reopen; and PreCast Specialties in Pompano Beach, which laid off 252 employees. The plant is being closed because the property is being sold, the company said.

October layoffs also included the 245 employees at The Rehabil- itation Center of Hollywood Hills, which was permanently closed by the state following multiple patient deaths. The nursing home lost air conditioning during the storm and didn’t have a backup generator.

Despite October’s job cuts related to the storm, Florida’s job market has been a healthy one this year, with low unemployment and robust job creation, especially in South Florida. Official government unemployment figures for the state are scheduled to be released Nov. 17. Nationally, employ- ers announced 29,831 job cuts in October, down 3 percent from last October.

Employers announced 25 percent fewer job cuts than they did during the same period last year, said Challenger, a global outplacement company based in Chicago. So far this year, 351,309 job cuts have been announced, compared with 466,352 cuts from January to October 2016. “Companies are currently holding on to their workforces,” said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.