Illinois companies announced 1,065 mass layoffs in August. Minority-owned Diverse Facility Solutions, headquartered in Alsip, Illinois, and two other janitorial services companies accounted for nearly half of the jobs lost.
Illinois companies announced 1,065 mass layoffs during August, with nearly half of the losses hitting three janitorial services companies.
Minority-owned janitorial and facility management company Diverse Facility Solutions, headquartered in Alsip, Illinois, announced 276 layoffs. Total Facility Maintenance Inc. in Wood Dale cut 141 jobs and United Maintenance Co. Inc. cut 91 jobs in Chicago.
Another 165 jobs were lost in Chicago from layoffs at Compass Group, the world’s largest foodservice company because of lost contracts.
More than 30% of the mass layoffs announced statewide impacted workers in suburban Cook County, with an additional 44% hitting the collar counties. All but 11 of these layoffs impacted communities in Northeastern Illinois.
mass layoffs reported in August while business closures impacted an additional 117 workers. The layoff cause for the remaining 314 jobs was not provided.
The employers did not indicate whether the remaining job cuts were related to business closures or standard layoffs, but the reports show about 70% of these mass layoffs will be permanent.
Illinois employers are mandated to file monthly mass layoff reports under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act if they have 75 or more full-time employees. While the reports serve as a gauge for job trends, they are not a perfect indicator of broader economic health.
Still, Illinois leaders could do a lot to improve the state’s business climate, including: reducing Illinois’ nation-leading state and local tax burden, beginning with its now No. 1 in the U.S. average property tax rate; lowering its third-highest corporate income taxes; and lowering the state’s 7.85% maximum unemployment insurance tax rate.
