Another sign of these times....

Ran into my neighbor this morning. Don't usually see him a lot because I am not home very much these days. I had noticed that his truck was around a lot more in the morning. He grimaced a bit and let me know that he had been laid off from his job at a company that manufactures doors for commercial and residential contractors. He had been working there for over twenty years and his plant, one of three, had never laid off anyone during his time there. The other two company plants have all but shut down. From what he told me, demand for their products had dropped by about 90%. Residential products had fallen to nearly no demand last year, and the commercial side, which services retail stores, commercial buildings, and hotels/resorts in the area is now down to near nothing as well.

This is consistent with my own take on the building trades in Eastern Washington. In my business I run into people from all walks of life. Of the people I know in the building trades, none are working right now, except for side jobs. Many are on unemployment because of the season, but the lack of orders in my neighbor's employer's manufacturing plant suggests that the jobs will not be there when the building season starts up again in a month or so. It appears that the state government may be aware of this, our twit for a governor just approved extension of unemployment benefits for another 20 weeks.