When Work Disappears

The plight of Douglas, GA, a small town on the outskirts of Atlanta, reflects the state of many small towns in rural areas suffering from the loss of a critical mass of manufacturing jobs.

1 minute read

August 14, 2003, 10:00 AM PDT

By Connie Chung


"The angst over lost manufacturing jobs is shared by rural communities across the United States. Many of the very towns that benefited from a rebound in manufacturing during the 1990s that helped them net thousands of new jobs, have now shuddered through three years of wrenching layoffs and plant closures. Of the 2.7 million jobs the U.S. economy has lost since early 2001, 2.4 million were in manufacturing. The downturn has been particularly tough on some rural communities, which have lost a significantly larger share of manufacturing jobs than urban areas, often because of outright factory shutdowns rather than partial layoffs. Many of the people who've lost jobs in shuttered factories have flocked to the area's high school equivalency programs and technical colleges, seeking retraining."

Thanks to Connie Chung

Monday, August 11, 2003 in The Chicago Tribune

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