News
Email
Print
Mayor Joines issues a challenge over jobs
Identify economic 'drivers' and maximize them, he says
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: September 12, 2008
Allen Joines issued a bold economic challenge yesterday to the local community, which is growing anxious about the status of many of its major employers.
Joines, the mayor of Winston-Salem, urged business leaders and politicians at the annual State of the Community presentation to help the local economy gain a net 35,000 jobs in 10 years.
The growth in jobs is needed, he said, for the local community to be on par with some of its metropolitan peers across the country, such as Fayetteville, Ark.; Hagerstown, Md.; and Lakeland, Fla.
Joines didn't give any specific details for how to accomplish the goal.
"In trying times, we've always risen to the task of rejuvenating our economy strategically," he said. "We continue to make progress in jobs, per-capita income and quality of life. But we can do more.
"We must rededicated resources and add resources to this effort."
The backdrop of Joines' speech, as well as those from other civic, educational and private-sector presenters, is the uncertainty shadowing such employers as Aon Corp., BB&T Corp., Dell Inc., Hanesbrands Inc., GMAC Insurance, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., Reynolds American Inc., Triad Guaranty Inc. and Wachovia Corp.
The latest blow came Tuesday when Reynolds announced that it was cutting 570 positions, including 320 jobs involuntarily, as part of its continuing bid to balance company size with shrinking consumer demand for tobacco products.
Joines said he drew inspiration for yesterday's challenge from a similar push made by officials in 1989 in the aftermath of the community's loss of more than 10,000 jobs over an 18-month period.
At that time, the job repercussions cut deeply across blue- and white-collar lines.
Piedmont Aviation Inc., Hanes Corp. and, much later, Wachovia Corp. were sold to larger competitors.
McLean Trucking Co. went bankrupt with 10,000 jobs eliminated.
About 3,300 jobs were cut with the closing of AT&T's plant (former Western Electric) on Old Lexington Road. RJR Nabisco shook the city when it moved its headquarters to Atlanta in January 1987, and the bidding war for Reynolds in 1988 cost more than 2,000 local jobs.
Joines said that the comparison with peer metropolitan areas came from a report done by representatives of McKinsey & Co., an economic consulting group.
Winston-Salem Alliance, the economic-development group that Joines also runs, requested an updating of McKinsey's 1999 study of the local economy. Winston-Salem Alliance expects to make the report public by November.
Part of what the report found is that those high-growth metropolitan peers have identified one major economic driver, as well as up to two minor economic drivers.
"They have leveraged those economic drivers to the hilt, being ruthless in their focus," Joines said.
Part of the local challenge, he said, is identifying which industry sector will be the economic driver out of such candidates as health care and biotechnology, transportation, advanced manufacturing and services.
"It's going to take a collaborative effort across city and county lines and the private sector," Joines said.
"We need to give our citizens a hope and a role for themselves and a better future for their children."
Before Joines' speech, both city and county managers acknowledged the slowdown in the local economy by pointing out the decline in new building permits and home sales, and the steady rise in the unemployment rate in recent months.
Lee Garrity, the Winston-Salem city manager, said that the city has "heard loud and clear from businesses and citizens that they want certainty in what are the rules, don't change the rules, and speed up the process."
Dudley Watts, the Forsyth County manager, said that residents should be reassured by the strong reputation that the local economy has with two of the nation's bond agencies, primarily because of the community's recent progress in economic diversity.
He also pointed out that the community is doing better than expected in several socioeconomic categories -- decreases in delinquent child-support payments, local jail population and surrendered pets to animal shelters.
■ Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.
Email
Print
