The national figure of 240,000 jobs lost in the third quarter is certainly in line with Northeast Ohio's jobs picture this week, where several companies either released workers, or announced pending job reductions.
The latest cuts come from Republic Engineered Products in Lorain, where hundreds of people will be laid off, because of a lack of customer orders.
Republic Spokesman Ken Braun says workers involved in the steel-making operations will be idled by mid-december, with no date for a return.
KEN BRAUN: "We're dependent on the automotive industry picking up again and we can't predict when that will happen."
That's similar to a statement from the world's largest steel company, Arcelor Mittal, earlier in the week - in which it announced it will slash production. There's no word yet how that might impact 1,600 workers in Cleveland.
Also this week:
- Allstate is firing 159 workers next month at it's Hudson campus.
- The Whirlpool plant in Sandusky County is cutting 250 jobs next month, and eliminating the third shift.
- Basket maker Longaberger has already let 73 people go at its Frazeyburg location.
- Con-way Freight announced consolidations Wednesday, and its Mentor depot will close, moving 40 jobs.
Economics Professor Frank Navratil of John Carroll University says this may only be the beginnning of the cutbacks.
PROF. FRANK NAVRATIL: "It's gonna be a pretty gloomy next several months, and so anybody who's operating a business is going to be concerned about overstocking, and if that's the case then they're going to cut back on production, therefore they're not going to need workers."
Bad employment news hit other regions of Ohio this week:
Toledo's DANA Corp will lay off 2,000 additional workers - totalling 5,000 this year.
Dayton's Delphi plant closes next month, idling nearly 400.
And Hamilton County, in Southwest Ohio, will likely slash 900 government jobs in 2009.
