Jobs added in state, but unemployed also rise
BOSTON – Even as the jobs in the state rose, the unemployment rate also increased as the number of people entering the job market shot up. The unemployment rate was reported by the Division of Employment and Training to have risen from 3 percent to 3.2 percent. This increase was the result of 9,000 people seeking work in July, the largest figure since December 1997. That also offset the reported 3,100 additional jobs in the state that month. With that imbalance, 5,900 filed for unemployment. While economists reportedly described the rise in unemployment as statistically insignificant, with the state a full percentage point below the national unemployment level of 4.3 percent, economists reportedly are concerned that the state has added jobs at a rate of only 1.3 percent since last July, a point below the national level. An economist for the Fleet Bank was reported by the Boston Globe as seeing that difference as a possible indication of “some slowing” in the state’s economy, which he nonetheless described, all things considered, as “very ebullient.”
Filene’s Basement files for bankruptcy
BOSTON – One of this city’s featured attractions, Filene’s Basement, once so popular that it became a free-standing operation, separate from its parent, Filene’s Department Store, has filed for bankruptcy protection. As losses by the chain mounted and competition from cut-rate stores has grown, management of Filene’s Basement decided to seek relief from the courts while they attempt to reorganize and stabilize their operations. Filene’s has 51 branches throughout the Northeast, Virginia, Florida and Midwest, along with Boston.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
Layoffs predicted at Converse
NORTH READING — With sales of athletic shoes still sluggish, Converse Inc. will lay off up to 70 employees in its North Carolina plant, company officials said last week. As consumer taste has changed in recent years, especially among the younger set, Converse and other manufacturers of athletic ware have responded by modifying their products with varied results. Converse officials have acknowledged that sales of its shoes remain slow. But they remained optimistic that traditional product lines which have done well will continue to do so and that their newest basketball shoe featuring new technology will be successful after its introduction during the holiday season.
Blue Cross & Blue Shield to raise rates next year
BOSTON – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts will raise rates between 8 and 12 percent next year, company executives told the Boston Globe. In doing so they will be following the lead set by other major health insurers in the state. Executives for the company cited surging health care costs for the increases.
Iona Technologies moves to Waltham
WALTHAM – Finding itself too crowded at its Cambridge location, Iona Technologies PLC has moved its United States headquarters to this community. An announcement from the company said it had tripled its staff in the last two years. The company sells products used to make diverse software products compatible. The new headquarters here will accommodate sales, marketing and engineering departments.
Ex Fleet secretary charged with embezzling
BOSTON — A secretary working at Fleet Bank embezzled nearly $240,000 to travel, rent cars, buy gifts and purchase heroin, according to an FBI affidavit. Susan Martinez Perea, 37, of the city’s Roxbury neighborhood, was charged with bank embezzlement. She allegedly stole $239,859 from Fleet Bank from February to December 1998. An employee of Fleet’s Business and Entrepreneurial Services Group in Framingham since January 1998, she forged her supervisor’s signature to obtain company checks, authorities told the Boston Herald. She then allegedly cashed the checks by depositing them in her own bank account or the accounts of friends. She also issued checks to private companies to pay for personal expenses, authorities said. Perea allegedly used the money to buy gifts for friends and family, travel and to support a drug addiction. Perea stopped reporting to work in August 1998, but continued embezzling money by turning in forms she had hoarded at her house, authorities said. She told bank tellers Fleet had authorized her to work at home following the death of her daughter, FBI Agent George J. DiMatteo said. The bank did not discover the theft until a year-end audit.
Nursing Home chain seeks to close 3 facilities
SPRINGFIELD — An Atlanta nursing home chain has asked a bankruptcy court judge to allow it to sell or close three Springfield area facilities. A hearing was scheduled in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Worcester on Pine Manor Nursing Home in Springfield, Elms Manor Nursing Home in Chicopee and Oak Manor Nursing Home in Holyoke. The proposal does not include a fourth home in the chain –Meadowood, in South Hadley. NewCare Health Corp. acquired the homes in a bankruptcy sale in December and sought Chapter 11 protection in June. The three homes have a total of 225 workers and 170 residents, according to Thomas Clarke, president of Lenox HealthCare, based in Pittsfield, which took over management of the homes in June. If the court approves closing the homes, they would not be shut until the state Department of Public Health approves a plan for the patients, Clarke said.
