GREEN BAY (WTAQ-WLUK) – In the wake of another announced plant closure, an area jobs watcher says local businesses are ready to hire.
Algoma Hardwoods, Brillion Iron Works and the Manitowoc Company, are all shutting their doors, leaving thousands without jobs this coming year.
180 employees from Algoma Hardwoods, 342 employees from Brillion Iron Works and 528 employees from the Manitowoc Company are being laid off.
But Jim Golembeski, executive director of the Bay Area Workforce Development Board, tells WLUK there’s reason for optimism.
“Those workers are walking out into an economy that is very strong and looking for workers right now”
Golembeski explained there are plenty of manufacturing jobs available in northeast Wisconsin.
“You go back to 2008, when we were in the middle of the great recession and people were being laid off, well there were no jobs anywhere. Well there are a lot of jobs right now and there are a lot of jobs in commuting distance”
He added having three companies in the same region shut down isn’t unusual.
“That’s kind of the natural progression in business; companies start up, they expand, they grow, somebody bigger buys them, and then they are a chess piece on a board”
Golembeski said the workforce development board is providing workshops to help those facing unemployment, so when all three manufacturing plants close for good, workers will be prepared.
