Astaris may add jobs

A spokeswoman with Astaris said Thursday that job increases at the Lawrence plant were likely but still undetermined after the St. Louis-based company announced a restructuring plan Wednesday.

As part of the restructuring plan, the company is closing three plants and a distribution center. Spokeswoman Stacey Castiglia said some of the work at the plants, which produce phosphate products used in food and beverage products, will be transferred to Lawrence and other plants.

Castiglia said the Lawrence plant, pictured above, was spared from closure because of its work force and the plant’s geographical location, which is near several major customers. The company declined to comment on how many workers the plant employs.

Workplace

Jobless claims drop

New claims for unemployment insurance fell last week to their lowest level in eight months, a sign that companies may be having a bit more faith in the staying power of the economic recovery and thus are easing the pace of layoffs.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that for the work week ending Oct. 4 new applications for jobless benefits dropped by a seasonally adjusted 23,000 to 382,000, the best showing since Feb. 8. That marked a better performance than analysts were forecasting. They were predicting claims would dip to 395,000 last week.

Topeka

Payless offers warning

Topeka-based Payless ShoeSource Inc.’s September same-store sales fell 1.1 percent, better than the 4.3 percent decline projected by Wall Street.

However, the company said the aggressive markdown of merchandise and lower sales in the first two months of the period were likely to “significantly depress” third-quarter earnings.

Analysts polled by Thomson First Call, on average, expected the retailer to earn 19 cents a share on revenue of $697.2 million in the third quarter.

In the third quarter of fiscal 2003, Payless earned $1.30 a share on $713 million in sales.