In this year’s first fiscal quarter, October 2009 through December 2009, the Los Angeles-Orange County region led the state in mass layoffs accounting for 19,000 newly unemployed workers, with the Los Angeles-Long Beach area accounting for 15,000 layoffs. Currently, six of the top 10 mass layoff cities are located in California. While Los Angeles accepted recognition as the country’s number-one mass layoff city, above New York and Chicago; California cities Riverside, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose and Sacramento ranked above Houston and Philadelphia.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ second-quarter mass layoff summary shows how mass layoffs are attacks directed at the working class. During 299 mass layoff events, 51,085 workers were laid off from private manufacturing firms, accounting for 30 percent of mass layoffs, and 34,642 workers lost their jobs from private construction firms in 276 mass layoff events, accounting for 10 percent of mass layoffs. The BLS defines a mass layoff event as, “[the] ‘mass layoff’ of more than 50 employees” during a single quarter of a fiscal year. In other words, the BLS is not accounting for any event in which 49 people lose their jobs in one quarter, successfully excluding possibly thousands of additional newly unemployed workers.
These mass layoffs come as no surprise since the exploitation and oppression of the working class is built into the capitalist system with its boom and bust cycles. Companies periodically produce more commodities than the market can absorb, leading managements to cut back on production and lay off workers. This in turn shrinks tax revenues, causing state and local governments to slash social services and lay off additional workers.
It is time for the workers of this country to unite and fight back for their right to employment and a livable income.
