For some county and city residents, the New Year began with the worst possible news.  GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, located in Albemarle County, has laid off approximately 50 employees.

The Daily Progress reports that the company is the third-largest private employer in the county with around 800 to 1,000 workers. The company, a joint venture between General Electric and FANUC LTD of Japan, provides hardware and software used in what the company calls “embedded computing.”

Prior to Christmas, the Virginia Employment Commission reported that 1,000 net local non-farm jobs have been lost in the state in the past year.