More job losses in Western Mass

Verizon is blaming changing technology on its need to cut 82 jobs at its Greenfield call center, saying people are using the Internet more to find phone numbers. Well, Duh! This is a real "chicken or the egg" situation. We all have had the frustrating experience of using an automated system that rarely understands what you are saying and needs to send you to a live operator who has been listening all the time but is not allowed to give you the information until the automated system has done its thing. No wonder that when people can, they turn to the Internet. Verizon says that jobs have gained overall, that they've added 200 jobs across the state. But the International Brotherhood of Electrical workers Local 2324 says 105 Western Mass jobs have already been lost in the region since last year.

The Republican had more bad news for us this morning: Mass Mutual, one of Springfield's largest employers, is laying off 30 workers in its retirement division.

How bad is job loss in the region?

Last June, Springfield Wire announced it would cease to manufacture in the region and phase out 180 jobs over the next eighteen months. There was another major job loss around the same time, and more since then.

I wish I'd been keeping track, but it's not too late to start.

I hope WMA readers will send in comments about job losses they're aware of in the last year. I did a search of MassLive but didn't turn up much.