Permanent layoffs are increasing in Orange County. According to a new report from JLL, permanent layoffs have increased from 6% to 9% of the total unemployment market since May in the market. The increase in permanent layoffs is directly related to the permanent closures of businesses after a prolonged shutdown. In total, more than 6,000 workers have permanently lost their jobs.

"This is happening for a couple reasons," Jared Dienstag, research manager at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. "There are businesses that temporarily closed down early in the pandemic and laid people off, with the intention of bringing them back to work. However, because COVID-19 remains rampant, some of these businesses were unable to re-open, they then had to permanently lay people off. There are also companies that operated at a lower than normal capacity but have not been able to resume normal operations which has forced them to permanently lay people off. This is different than the Great Recession where the economy endured a heavy volume of permanent layoffs."

While most of the layoffs are still classified as temporary, it is clear that businesses are feeling the pressure of the shutdown. Longer closures could mean more increases in permanent layoffs. "Once the company is unable to stay afloat, they will start turning temporary layoffs into permanent layoffs," says Dienstag. "Although there are limited job opportunities, an employee may choose to leave a company while being temporarily laid off. It comes down to how long an employee can continue on unemployment benefits. If the layoff lasts beyond an employee's unemployment benefits, they will then seek work elsewhere and leave their existing place of work altogether."