The Wells Fargo Home and Consumer Finance Group plans to layoff 67 Dallas area employees at its automotive-finance facility starting January 10, 2009. The Wells Fargo layoffs are the latest causality in a weakening economy that has been battered by job losses , the credit crunch and a wave of foreclosures.
According to a letter sent to the Texas Workforce Commission, Wells Fargo is laying off the 67 Dallas area employees because they expect a permanent plant closure of the entire facility. According to Wells Fargo the job losses are necessary because the amount of loans being issued is shrinking making those jobs unnecessary.
Most of the employees affected by the job losses are expected to receive “generous” severance packages that may include benefits based on their years of service and job classification at the company.
The job losses hitting the Dallas-Fort Worth area are unfortunate and are definitely not helping the economic environment faced by other businesses such as retailers who depend on employees spending during the holiday season. What we need now is a proactive program to extend unemployment benefits for laid off workers such as those at Wells Fargo, because the unemployment cycle is becoming longer and more difficult.