Dealing with Layoffs

(a cut and paste special dedicated to gwlnet the highbrow intellectual...)

Averting Layoffs and Revitalizing the Manufacturing Economy: Lessons from the Great Lakes States

As the country enters into a recession and suffers increasing job losses, the Great Lakes Region is facing a particularly acute crisis. Literally millions of decent-paying manufacturing jobs have disappeared from the region in recent years. How regional political leaders are responding to that crisis provides lessons for state policymakers across the country.

On April 17th, government officials, labor leaders, and policy organization staff came together in Cleveland for the Great Lakes Regional Economic Revitalization Summit to share insights on what their states are doing to avert layoffs and revitalize their economies.

The Great Lakes Manufacturing Crisis: Since 1998, the Great Lakes states have lost 1.5 million manufacturing jobs, due both to recession and chronic trade imbalances. Just since 2005, the Big Three automakers have announced another 1/2 million new layoffs, mostly in the region.

Add in the subprime mortgage and foreclosure crisis that has devastated communities and a private equity market that has "stripped and flipped" many industrial firms of key assets and abandoned their local employees, and you end up with a hollowing out of the economic vitality of communities across the region.

The loss of manufacturing jobs is critical, since it is often the heart driving other service jobs in the United States. Manufacturing is often the lead purchaser of new technology, financial and technical services, and, for workers, has most often been the key economic ladder for young people and people of color.

The flip side is that as job opportunities recede, communities suffer. For every 1% rise in unemployment, the nation sees an additional 36,887 deaths, 648 additional homicides, 4,227 admissions to mental hospitals, and 3,340 additional state prison admissions. Mass job losses create stress on both families and communities.

Policy Innovation in the Region: But that's only one side of the story in the Great Lakes region. The other is the incredible policy innovation rippling through states across the region, as government, labor, business and community leaders have developed new programs to revitalize their economies. Many are in their early stages, but there are important lessons for all states struggling with how to deal with job losses and, more importantly, think about how to avert them in the first place.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE