ECONOMICS TEACHES SAD LESSON FOR SHOE WORKERS

For 1,400 workers of Brown Shoe Co., the next few months will be trying times. The company announced Friday that it plans to close four shoe plants in Southeast Missouri within the next three months.

Any plant shutdown is bad news in a community. But in the small, rural towns of Southeast Missouri, such news is particularly devastating. The plant closings in Charleston, Bernie, Caruthersville and Fredericktown will hit hard at the local economies of those towns, and the surrounding region.

In Charleston, for example, the shoe factory was the major employer, employing about 500 people. Those jobs won't be replaced easily in a county where unemployment currently stands at around 10 to 12 percent.

In addition to the loss of jobs, the plant closings mean lost revenue for the communities in terms of tax dollars.

Brown Shoe Co. officials have blamed the plant closings on foreign imports. But such a view is somewhat simplistic. In an age of global trade, imports of all types of goods are a fact of life.

It's also a fact that manufacturing jobs in this country have been declining. The growth has been in the service industries. By the year 2000, there are expected to be twice as many service jobs in Missouri as manufacturing jobs.

Job retraining will be increasingly important as we try to adjust to meet the business needs of a rapidly changing society.

But for the Brown Shoe factory workers in Southeast Missouri, the plant closings are a bitter lesson in economics.

U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, to his credit, is pushing to see that state and federal assistance is provided to help retrain these displaced workers.

Area economic development officials are continually seeking to attract new industries to the region.

In the long run, we believe such efforts pay dividends. Economic growth and jobs in Southeast Missouri depend on attracting new industries and expanding existing businesses.

For 1,400 factory workers, it's sadly a lesson they understand all too well.