Hickory, N.C., struggles as trade-related jobs move overseas

The expansion of global trade may enrich the U.S., but it has overwhelmed this manufacturing area beside the Blue Ridge Mountains. The region has lost more of its jobs to international competition than just about anywhere else in the nation, according to federal trade assistance statistics.

Oct. 29: Geraldine Ritch, 62, moved to a trailer after recently losing her house to foreclosure. She is now studying health care technology at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, N.C.

Jim R. Bounds-for The Washington Post

Ritch studies for a test in her new home. The unemployment rate in her hometown of Hickory runs about 15 percent, one of the highest in the nation.

Jim R. Bounds-for The Washington Post

Ritch stands in the kitchen of her new trailer home. She was a leather sewer in a furniture factory until her $15 an hour job was cut last year. "Our stitching was perfection. So I never thought we'd lose our jobs to China. But we did. We did," she said.

Jim R. Bounds-for The Washington Post

Ritch tackles her schoolwork. Unlike her, many workers cannot take the classes or are forced to drop out because their families can't afford to live on unemployment benefits long enough for them to get the training certificate or degree.

Jim R. Bounds-for The Washington Post

Ken Austin, 55, center, has twice lost jobs to foreign competition, one in textiles and one at a furniture company. Now he is enrolled in a two-year program that will teach him how to install heating and air-conditioning systems.

Jim R. Bounds-for The Washington Post

Joe Ward,left, and Austin work on an oil furnace unit during heating and air conditioning class at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory.

Jim R. Bounds-for The Washington Post

Instructor Jody Lail, left, works with Austin on a oil furnace unit. Austin attends school as part of a longstanding federal program called Trade Adjustment Assistance that offers community college tuition and extended unemployment benefits to workers impacted by foreign competition.

Jim R. Bounds-for The Washington Post

$Austin looks on as instructor Jody Lail does a classroom demonstration. Of those who manage to finish their retraining through the TAA program, a significant percentage don't find jobs and of those who do, about half earn only a fraction of their former pay, a 2000 GAO study found.$

Austin looks on as instructor Jody Lail does a classroom demonstration. Of those who manage to finish their retraining through the TAA program, a significant percentage don't find jobs and of those who do, about half earn only a fraction of their former pay, a 2000 GAO study found.

Jim R. Bounds-for The Washington Post

Lail leads a community college class. Since 2002, the Department of Labor has certified that more than 90,000 jobs in North Carolina were lost due to foreign competition, more than in any other state.

Jim R. Bounds-for The Washington Post

Darrell Howell, left, and Reggie Deal study during heating and air conditioning class.

Jim R. Bounds-for The Washington Post

Ken Austin heads out of class. He says the TAA program is 'the government's way of apologizing for taking our jobs away. I'm not going to turn it down."

Jim R. Bounds-for The Washington Post

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This Story In N.C., damage not easily mended Article \| HICKORY, N.C. -- The expansion of global trade may enrich the United States, as economists say, but it has overwhelmed this manufacturing area beside the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hickory, N.C., struggles as trade-related jobs move overseas Federal assistance to trade workers		Network News X Profile View More Activity TOOLBOX E-Mail This Reprints		More on washingtonpost.com • More Photo News » washingtonpost.com
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Hickory, N.C., struggles as trade-related jobs move overseas

The expansion of global trade may enrich the U.S., but it has overwhelmed this manufacturing area beside the Blue Ridge Mountains. The region has lost more of its jobs to international competition than just about anywhere else in the nation, according to federal trade assistance statistics.

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