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Two years ago, when Uniroyal announced that it would close its Eau Claire plant and eliminate 1,375 jobs, Craig Carlson, executive director of the Eau Claire Area Industrial Development Corp. (IDC), told the fedgazette: "Life goes on. We'll survive this."
Since that time, Cray Research in nearby Chippewa Falls has laid off about 300 workers and, in January of this year, Supercomputer Systems Inc. (SSI) lost its financial backing with IBM and 320 highly skilled workers were suddenly jobless.
Today, in retrospect, Carlson says that the period following Uniroyal's announcement was perhaps more difficult for the city than he had anticipated. And he says that Eau Claire's recent troubles, especially the SSI closing, will continue to negatively impact the community in the near term. But he quickly qualifies that by recounting the city's efforts to counter the recent closings and by expressing optimism for the future.
GROWTH DESPITE BAD NEWS
Of course, part of Carlson's responsibility is to be positive about Eau Claire's economic future. But he says his optimism is justified by Eau Claire's recent economic performance, and says too much media attention has focused on Uniroyal and SSI and not enough on the city's good news. For example:
*Despite the Uniroyal closing, employment grew by nearly 3,000 jobs in 1992 and the unemployment rate in the Eau Claire metro area dropped from 5.5 percent in 1991 to 5.2 percent in 1992.
* The city's $65 million in construction for 1992 (including $12.9 million of industrial development) was a record for Eau Claire.
* A number of new businesses announced plans in 1992 to move to Eau Claire, including Allen-Bradley Co., with plans for 75 new jobs; American Coating Technology, 40 jobs; International Chute Specialists, 75 to 100 jobs; and Nortech Systems, about 50 jobs.
* Existing businesses expanded their facilities and added jobs, including Phillips Plastics Corp., 90 new jobs; Nestle Food Co. more than doubled its plant size and its manufacturing crew to 150; and the merger of Luther Hospital and Midelfort Clinic, both of Eau Claire, with the Mayo Clinic of Rochester, Minn., will mean the addition of up to 40 physicians, along with support staff, over the next few years.
To reinforce Carlson's point that Eau Claire continues to grow...
