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What can a town do if a major employer leaves the area? Say a town of 30,000 loses a place with 1500-2000 jobs?
If a town has 30,000 people and looses 2000 jobs, I would say that it is about to become a small town.
Home prices should be fantastic for a few years [for buyers that is].
An employer with 2,000 employees is a huge massive employer. Far bigger than anything we have in this state.
When 2,000 people lose their jobs, at least 6,000 people supported directly by that employer, are looking hitting the streets looking for work and homes.
Then three times that are indirectly supported within the community, so within 6 months about 18,000 additional people will be effected, as all of those small businesses and services shut down.
Yes, I would think that 2,000 lay-offs means that 6,000 will leave right away. And as small business fail each week after that, about another 18,000 will end up leaving from the trickle-down economy.
That totals 24,000 people on average leaving.
Among the rest would be retirees, folks on pension.
It is really hard to get a failing economy to turn around.
Our closest big town is not as big as yours is, they lost their biggest employer [a saw mill] and laid off 150 people. Now 3 years later the town still has lots of houses empty. The town itself had to lay-off the rec department, road crew and some teachers, and then raised taxes.
If each person laid-off is supporting a family, then all of those families need help. Plus every small business tanks, and most of those shutdown.
They get desperate. They shop the facility around. Sometimes they get lucky. Mostly they don't. Often the decision is made to become a destination for tourists thereby guaranteeing years of low paying dead end jobs.
This causes the younger generation to leave for greener pastures (jobs) and only coming back to visit their parents at holidays.
I would guess the council would try like he$$ to attract any new businesses. I heard that it averages that 3 people depend on each job.
I just got moved from a town in that situation, many people felt for me, but I felt worse for them. I'm hoping they can attract some new businesses, otherwise I fear it will dry up.
North Beach Person is right; that is the usual decision. Unfortunately the tourist trade is also suffering economic meltdown, as more and more people lose their jobs and can't take vacations. The most fiscally sustainable thing to do is for the community to look at what their assets are, in land, buildings, and PEOPLE, and to try to re-establish themselves in smaller, more locally pertinent businesses. Running out into the depressed commercial/industrial market and trying to vie for the few employers there that are still left in the US, to draw them in to the abandoned buildings and area, will cost more money and time without a definite and productive end. We have, unfortunately, become a primarily service, not manufacturing, economy, and service jobs are simply passing the same old tired dollars around, with the real money going overseas to buy what we do not produce ourselves. Until and unless that changes, we will be seeing many many more closings.
Unless the major employer had some sort of tax incentives offered by the company when they first came to town, that included a guarantee of maintaining their facility in the town, the only thing the town can really do is move on.
Find another way to make money. Find something else to do with the facility. It has happened all over the country for years. Learn some lessons from what other towns have gone through.
I'll tell you what nicks my sheep is Walmart. They roll into a town, dry up the smaller businesses and then get so big, that the original store is no longer big enough, so they build elsewhere in the city in an even bigger store. In the meantime this giant building (fairly new in most cases) just sits there vacant. It seems like such a shame.
I will say, back in my railroading days when I traveled all over the country/world, one thing I would do is check the "local attractions brochure" in the hotel rooms and see who was the biggest employer. In 3 out of 4 towns it was Walmart.
Some towns in my area have Walmart as the biggest employer
Some towns in my area have poultyr processing plants as the biggest employer.
The towns where Walmart is the major employer don't have an ILLEGALS problem.
The towns where poultry processing plants are the biggest employer do have an ILLEGALS problem.
I'll gladly take a Walmart in my town before a poultry processing plant anyday !
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