Job cuts jolt tech, hotel, zoo, religious workers
Planned layoffs have jolted Bay Area hotels, tech companies, the Oakland Zoo, and a religious…
Planned layoffs have jolted Bay Area hotels, tech companies, the Oakland Zoo, and a religious facility in a fresh round of job cutbacks that suggest the region’s employment market has yet to recover from coronavirus-linked ailments.
The new round of official layoff notices reported to the state Employment Development Department cast a forbidding shadow on the Bay Area economy, especially after the mammoth job losses suffered by the nine-county region during 2020.
For all of 2020, the Bay Area lost a staggering 360,800 jobs, a decline of 8.8{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} in the number of jobs in the region. During the same one-year period, Santa Clara County shed 79,400 jobs or a 6.9{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} drop; the East Bay lost 113,900 jobs, a 9.6{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} decline; the San Francisco-San Mateo region lost 118,100 jobs, a 9.9{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} drop, this news organization’s analysis of the EDD figures shows.
In the most recent layoffs:
— McAfee, a tech firm that provides security software, reported plans for the layoffs of 137 workers in San Jose. The job cuts were slated to be effective on or around March 4.
— Dropbox, a tech company that provides software to manage documents in the cloud, reported it had decided to lay off 167 workers in San Francisco. The cuts went into effect on Jan. 14. However, some of the job cuts might extend until April 1, Dropbox Chief People Officer Melanie Collins told the EDD in the WARN notice.
— Cavallo Point Lodge at the Golden Gate, a North Bay hotel and resort, is cutting 119 jobs in Sausalito. The cuts were effective Dec. 8 but were only posted by the EDD on Jan. 20. The lodge is operating under coronavirus-linked restrictions.
— Nazareth House, which for 60 years has provided a retirement and care home for elderly Catholic clergy and religious in the Bay Area, has closed its doors. The coronavirus and financial difficulties were cited as factors behind the permanent shutdown. The closure eliminated 76 jobs in San Rafael.
— Service Systems Associates, or SSA Group, which provides culinary and retail services at the Oakland Zoo, has cut 51 jobs at the East Bay zoological complex. The Zoo is closed as a result of coronavirus-linked shutdowns ordered by Alameda County.
— Hyatt Regency Santa Clara has permanently eliminated 80 jobs.
The relentless job cuts and business shutdowns hammered both the Bay Area and California during December.
The Bay Area lost 14,300 jobs during December, while California lost 52,200 jobs. The job cuts were particularly brutal in light of the loss of 140,000 jobs nationwide in the same month.
The job cuts were so severe that the Bay Area employment losses generated 27{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} of the statewide job losses in December, even though the Bay Area accounts for only 22{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} of the statewide labor force.
Similarly, California produced 37{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} of the nation’s job losses in December, even though the state accounts for just 11{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} of the nationwide labor pool.
The on-again, off-again nature of the shutdowns, partial reopenings, and renewed shutdowns were apparent with the layoffs at the Oakland Zoo.
“Regrettably, the COVID-19 pandemic has continued much longer than we had hoped,” Christopher McNicholas, general counsel with SSA Group wrote in the WARN notice.
SSA laid off Oakland Zoo workers in March and thought at the time that SSA would be able to reinstate the employees in relatively short order. The coronavirus and the ongoing shutdowns dashed those hopes.
“Due to the unforeseeable impact of the pandemic on the Company’s business and finances, the company is unable to reinstate the majority of employees to their positions at this time,” McNicholas wrote in the WARN notice.
Executives with Hyatt also noted that the coronavirus is having a deeper impact on the hotel sector than initially anticipated, resulting in the Santa Clara layoffs.
“It has now become clear that the demand for travel, events, and hospitality services will take substantially longer to resume than previously anticipated,” Eron Hodges, general manager of Hyatt Regency Santa Clara, stated in the WARN notice.
