Editorial - August 2003

Displaced workers need assistance

Published August 1, 2003

More layoffs. More jobs lost that may never reappear. More people searching for work.

The announcements come with a disturbing predictability, the latest from Kannapolis-based Pillowtex. It wasn’t your normal announcement, due to the number of people affected — more than 7,000, with nearly 5,000 in the Carolinas and nearly 4,000 in the Charlotte region. It has been reported as the largest layoff ever in North Carolina.

 Here in Lincoln we’ve had our own share of layoffs, such as the General Shoelace closing announcement a few weeks ago that affected some 30 workers. The numbers had been going down steadily since last year when the company employed about 120.

Such announcements are routine nowadays. If you go back just a few years in Lincoln County, the loss of manufacturing jobs numbered possibly in the thousands.

What happened with Pillowtex? The usual suspects. Foreign competition and a retail slowdown. Pillowtex’s management would have to do something ingenious to turn things around, and that requires capital the company didn’t have. It’s a shame. Pillowtex, perhaps better recognized under its older name of Fieldcrest Cannon, dates back to the early 1900s.

The announcement is disappointing at a time when positive signs are showing for the economy.. Those upbeat trend reports will keep coming, while overlooking some of the troubled manufacturing sectors that for so long were a staple to the North Carolina economy.

Many displaced workers have been seeking jobs for months or longer, and more workers may face layoffs in these troubled manufacturing sectors. It’s not just here, it’s all over the nation.

According to a recent study by researchers at Rutgers University, two-thirds of workers laid off in the last three years received no severance package or other compensation from their employer.

Businesses continue to announce thousands of layoffs. The national unemployment rate hit a nine-year high of 6.4 percent in June, and many economists think it could hit 6.6 percent before starting to decline.

The unemployment rate has been higher than usual here in Lincoln County, in the 7 to 8 percent range.

Unfortunately, many of our unemployed may not find similar jobs when they search for new opportunities.  Helping these workers, many of whom are in their 40s and 50s, find new jobs is going to be difficult. It’s a task that should get top consideration from state officials and particularly those who can steer these workers to new training opportunities.

 The jobs such as those performed at Pillowtex may still be around in the future, but not in this country.

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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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