Nearly 41,000 Ohioans lost their job in the last quarter of 2008 after their employer told them they were either shutting down, consolidating or letting go of a large number of workers. That's double the number of workers affected by mass layoffs in the the last quarter of 2007.
Just about half of the new layoffs came from manufacturing. About a quarter came from construction. The primary reason companies cited for the job cuts: a drop in business demand. Economic research analyst George Zeller says the scary part is that mass layoffs are just one part of northeast ohio's jobs problem.
George Zeller: We have lost during the past year in Cuyahoga County more jobs in finance and insurance than in manufacturing. That has never happened before in our history.
And 2009 has not seen a slow down of layoff notices with large employers, like several steel companies, automaker GM and even Walmart Optical cutting jobs.