Job exodus ravages a way of life

They took our jobs.

By John Moreno Gonzales • ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 17, 2009

BURLINGTON, N.C. — Tim Holt was among the men and women who wove fabric and prosperity here for generations, until the textile factories left town in a global manufacturing shift that the rest of the country hardly seemed to notice.

Fifty-one years old and pushing through his second federally funded job-training program in six years, he names the departed companies like a list of suspects. Gold Toe, which introduced its durable socks during the Great Depression, found cheaper labor in Mexico. Culp Weaving, an upholstery giant that may have covered your parents‘ sofa, left for China. And the town’s namesake, Burlington Industries, abandoned its sprawling compound after a 2001 bankruptcy, the remnants bought by the conglomerate International Textile Group but still vacant.

What most frustrates Holt and others in ailing industrial towns across the country is that their communities began their tailspin long before subprime mortgages failed and stocks plunged. And compared with places where the housing crisis has done most of the damage, their prospects for rebounding are dim.

Source: tennessean.com

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Tags: Layoffs | Tech & Biz | Job exodus

Jobless face tough health-care options

My husband has not had health-care insurance since September. I will have to start paying COBRA or go without soon. With so many without health-care coverage, the price for health-care will increase for all.

By Bonna Johnson • THE TENNESSEAN • June 17, 2009

When Tammy Fleishour lost her job in January as an executive assistant at an advertising agency, the single mom worried that her worst nightmare might come true: an extended hospital stay without health insurance to help cover the costs.

The Nashville woman considered purchasing government-sponsored health insurance for laid-off workers through COBRA but didn’t think she could afford the more than $500 monthly premium for an individual policy.

Then, she found out that she could buy basic coverage for $113 a month from CoverTN, a state-sponsored health insurance program that last fall was opened to workers who are between jobs.

“These are difficult times and difficult decisions,” said Fleishour, 47, whose 13-year-old son ended up getting health insurance through her ex-husband.

It wasn’t ideal for Fleishour, who has had medical problems in the past and is concerned about CoverTN’s stripped-down level of benefits, but considers it a temporary solution. “It was a life saver,” she said.

As unemployment rates near double digits and people go without jobs for prolonged periods of time, laid-off workers like Fleishour find themselves faced with health insurance dilemmas that have no perfect answers. Comprehensive coverage may be available but often is too expensive, especially when you’re not getting a paycheck, while bare-bones coverage is affordable but risky.

“People are churning in and out of coverage or having periods where they have no coverage at all,” said Sara Collins, assistant vice president at New York-based The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that supports universal health care.

Source: tennessean.com

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Tags: Health | Jobless | health-care | no insurance