Jul. 14--The entire Stride Rite distribution center in Huntington will close, forcing 120 employees out of work.

The Lexington, Mass. footwear company notified the state Department of Workforce, which posted the notice of the shutdown on its Web site.

The company will terminate 55 warehouse employees on Sept. 11 and another 65 warehouse employees, supervisors and members of management a week later.

Company lawyer Jay R. Andrews said in a notice to the state that the company hopes to "accomplish this closing with the least possible disruption to the lives of our employees and the community."

Stride Rite's parent company, Collective Brands Inc., announced in March 2008 that it planned to close the Huntington warehouse and one in Burnaby, British Columbia. The work is being consolidated into a distribution center the company is building in Brookville, Ohio, the Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne reported on its Web site.

In other layoff news, heavy truck duty specialist Altec, LLC of Fort Wayne also announced it is idling production for logistics and consolidation reasons, putting 64 employees out of work.

These are the July notifications posted on the state's Web site:

--Altec LLC, Fort Wayne, 64 (job affected), heavy duty truck manufacturing, closing;

--Stride Rite Corp., Huntington, 120, footwear manufacturing, closing;

--Fleetwood Homes, Garrett, 87, manufactured mobile home manufacturing, closing;

--Meridian Automotive Systems, Grabill,122, manufacture reinforced plastic panels for automotive and truck, layoffs.

The recession that bit viciously into the economy last fall and spit thousands of Indiana residents out on the unemployment lines shows little sign of easing.

On the contrary, experts say double-digit jobless rates could persist into next spring, peaking in Indiana at about 11.5 percent.

Indiana's unemployment rate rose in May to 10.6 percent from 9.9 percent in April, government labor market analysts reported in June. It was the seventh straight month that the state's jobless rate has been 7 percent or higher. The national rate in May was 9.4 percent.

The state's June employment report will be released on Friday.

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