The news on the local economic front continues to get worse. Another two companies have announced they're either going out of business or cutting the workforce.

Circuit City is closing one-fifth of its stores nationwide by the end of the year, including the Panama City location.

Oceaneering Multiflex in Panama City also announced Monday about 15 percent of their staff no longer have jobs. The company manufactures pipes, steel tubes, cables and hoses for all types of subsea systems. Company officials told us about 60 employees were notified of the layoff this morning.

General Manager Linda Evans did not comment on camera, but released this statement:

"It has become apparent due to overcapacity in the industry that the market for Subsea Umbilical Manufacturing will continue to be very competitive for an extended period of time. Therefore, it is incumbent on Oceaneering Multiflex to become more efficient by lowering its cost structure. We are implementing a reduction in work force at our Panama City facility. This rightsizing is not expected to diminish our ability to respond to our customers’ needs in 2009. We believe a more efficient manufacturing operation will make us more competitive and serve us well in the intermediate and long-term."

The company opened up at Port Panama Vity in 2004 with 80 employees. It had grown to about 400 this year, a factor in the firm winning the bay county economic development alliance 2008 community impact award in August. That was before there was any sign of an impending layoff.

"These are challenging economic times for a lot of companies and I think what we're seeing is just a reflection of the company to make sure they are poised to properly deal with the economic climate of the day. If that means downsizing to get the company where they need to be, that's obviously what they're doing," said Ted Clem, Executive Director of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance.

Oceaneering Multiflex and Circuit City are only the latest local casualties of the bad economy. Century Boats, Stock Building Supply, Linens N Things, Trane Air Conditioning and Sears Parts & Service Center have all either announced lay-offs or permanent closures.