By Kenneth Thompson
Staff writer
Georgia, like the nation, is experiencing mounting unemployment, and Troup County - despite the promise of Kia-related jobs ahead - had its highest jobless rate on record, 12.7 percent, in February. LaGrange’s February rate of 14.8 percent is the highest of any city in Georgia with a population of at least 10,000.
Those daunting numbers, released this week by the Georgia Department of Labor, show both LaGrange and Troup County rates well above the state average of 9.4 percent. Troup is among the 87 of Georgia’s 159 counties with unemployment in double digits. LaGrange last surpassed 14 percent in June of 1992 with a mark of 15.1 percent Troup’s 12.7 percent is the highest since the DOL began calculating county rates in 1973.
LaGrange Mayor Jeff Lukken said the high unemployment rate is due to a combination of several factors.
“Number one is the national and state economy reel ing from the meltdown of dramatic job losses, credit freezes, and plant closures from the recession. But also, the significant presence of manufactur ing and textile plants that are concentrated in our area. All of us understood that our textile plants were vulnerable to foreign competition and to the potential for relocat ing offshore. Lately we have been experienc ing some dramatic job losses as our textile plants have laid off employees or closed the plants permanently.” the mayor said.
Sam Hall, spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Labor, echoed Lukken ’s assessment.
“Basically, the reason why the number in the LaGrange area has been going up is because of a good bit of layoffs in three primary areas - manufacturing, with the textile industry as the main culprit, retail and construction. The dateline of the textile industry has actually been getting worse for several years now. The textile industries in Dalton and other places around Georgia and probably the nation are also declining. It’s primarily because of a slow down in the housing industry, the fact that textile manufacturers have been relocating overseas during the past few years and because the improved technology has led to a less amount of people required to do certain jobs,” Hall said.
Though the unemployment numbers within the city do reflect the local economy, they are based on surveys and don’t include newly-acquired jobs, like those from a recent T-Mobile job fair, Hall said.
LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce President Page Estes said her her organization is watching the job situation closely.
“From the chamber’s perspective, we feel that the unemployment numbers are lag indicators that don’t include any of the new jobs. In other words, it’s not a snapshot of this moment. We expect to see an improvement in those numbers with the recent T-Mobile job fair and the growth of Kia and its suppliers. We are just hopeful that in these economic times, we will see a positive turn in the upcom ing months.”
During the month of February, Troup County accepted 1,018 initial unemployment insurance claims, which equates to the number of people who lost jobs at that time, Hall said.
“February of last year had only 516 of those claims, Hall said. “That’s a 98 percent increase. We have been seeing that kind of increase for the past several months when compared to last year’s stats. It’s because of the severity of the recession that we are in. People are being laid off a lot more than they were last year.”
Troup County’s success in attracting industrial jobs, in fact, plays a role in the current job losses.
“Our community leaders have been very successful in industrial prospecting and diversifying our industrial base to give us some protection from reliance on only one type of industry, such as textiles,” Lukken said. “But our success in securing diverse manufacturing jobs also creates the risk that, during a recession, many of these manufacturers will scale back their production as consumers reduce their spending. This happens to a greater extent with manufacturing than say, within the lower paying service industries. Those cities, just like certain states, that have experienced a dramatic growth in manufacturing and other industries, will often feel the effects of a recession earlier and more severely.”
Another positive note includes a high enrollment rate at West Georgia Technical College. The winter semester had 4.4 percent more students than the year before.
“When the economy is in a downturn, people tend to return for an education if things aren’t working out for them,” said Dave Marler, the college’s marketing director. “Our sense is that people are looking for skills needed for the hundreds of jobs coming to area in the near future.”
Marler is a member of a new task force designed by city and county leaders that assists Troup County residents in landing local jobs related to Kia and its suppliers.
Known as the Troup County Works, the force will consist of members representing the county, LaGrange, West Point, Hogansville, West Georgia Technical College, county school system, LaGrange College, LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Work Force Corporation, state Department of Labor, LaGrange Industrial Authority, the Callaway Foundation and an economic study team from Georgia Tech.
Members of the force will discuss plans in the near future to create internship as well as co-op programs with existing and future industries.
Other plans to be discussed include creating a placement center to coordinate applicants with job openings, creating a grant program to supplement state scholarships, and the possibility of learning from local high schools and colleges about curriculums and future opportunities for students that will enhance technical skills.
The force also will create a Web site, troupcountyworks.com, to provide residents with information on available jobs, required job skills, education resources, grant availability and a placement system to connect them to potential employers and industries.
Based on zip codes entered when creating profiles, non-Troup County residents will see only a limited amount of job information, Marler said. “Hopefully, it will give people a greater awareness of jobs in this area,” he said. “The goal is to limit the number of people from other places in Georgia and neighboring states who apply for these jobs.”
Georgia’s overall jobless rate ofs 9.4 percent is well above the national average, now at 8.1 percent. Currently, there are 445,498 unemployed Georgians, an increase of 69.2 percent over the year, according the the DOL.
Wyoming currently has the nation’s most attractive jobless rate of 3.7 percent. LaGrange’s worst recession occurred in February of 1991 with an estimated 16.6 percent unemployment rate.
“Anyway you cut it, this economic crisis cannot be summarized in unemployment rates and statistics,” Lukken said. “I know that this recession is having a cruel and discouraging effect on real people and families in our city. But we’re a resourceful community with many blessings. We’ll pull together to get through these tough times, just as we’ve done before.”
Kenneth Thompson can be reached at kethompson@lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 228.
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