Padnos, Cequent cut jobs

MICHIGAN (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Analysts expected the news to be bad, but not this bad. Jobless claims jumped again last week, and the number of folks still getting benefits hit a record high for the tenth straight week.

The Labor Department says initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 669,000. The week before there were 657,000 claims.

Close to six million people are out of work across America, and a lot of those unemployed are in Michigan.

There are still more job losses to come as well, Tekonsha manufacturer, Cequent Performance Products will cut 50 jobs beginning in May. The permanent lay offs will be finished by September.

Cequent makes products for light trucks, SUV's, and other vehicles.

Holland is also seeing losses. Louis Padnos Iron & Metal company just reduced its workforce across the state by 35 full-time employees. Those cuts are the second in more than 100 years. The last workforce reduction took place in the early 1980's.