The Myrtle Desk factory sits abandoned at Millis Street and Taylor Avenue. Don Davis Jr. | HPE
The recession of 1981-82 was the last time unemployment reached the sobering levels they are now. But then, High Point teemed with textile mills and furniture factories, and furniture manufacturers blanketed communities in places such as Davidson County.
When a textile or furniture operation laid off workers or shut down nearly 30 years ago, there was an expectation that an employer would bring back manufacturing workers when times improved, or another company would take over and reopen the factory.
Today, amid the shuttered mills and factories in places such as southern and western High Point, Thomasville and Lexington, the expectation has changed for the worse. Even as the economy improves, there’s little to no hope that any manufacturer will fill a space that used to provide textile and furniture paychecks for generations.
As people scour for jobs during 2010 in an economy that analysts say is finally rebounding, the fundamental loss of manufacturers that supplied job opportunities during most of the 20th century will hamstring the employment market, said Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition based in Washington.
“The most critical aspect of this whole recovery is where are the jobs going to come from. But in the last 30 years, the landscape of our economy has shifted dramatically. We have significantly downsized our manufacturing base and employment, have downsized one of the key job-creating components of our economy,” he said.
Local job figures through the N.C. Employment Security Commission reflect the stark shift. Comparable job figures aren’t available through the state agency dating back to 1981-82. But comparing figures from today to 1990 shows how the offshoring of manufacturing by the captains of industry has slashed jobs.
Average manufacturing employment in the state declined 46 percent from the second quarter of 1990 to the second quarter of 2009, or from 828,494 workers to 447,751. Manufacturing employment in the Greensboro-High Point metropolitan area followed the trend, falling 43 percent from 91,455 in 1990 to 52,251 in 2009.
The fundamental change in the American manufacturing economy is having and will have dire ramifications for creation of good jobs in the United States, Tantillo said. Even if the overall economy improves and the nearly $800 billion federal stimulus spurs some growth, the question becomes where will jobs in America be created if production of consumer goods takes place more and more offshore.
“It’s like putting a new battery in the car without realizing that you don’t have a working engine any longer,” Tantillo said.
pjohnson@hpe.com | 888-3528
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