Federal Budget Cuts Reach Southwestern Virginia
By Jason Johnson | Friday, December 2nd, 2011 | Economics, Policy, Southwest VirginiaWhat happens when approximately one-third of your state’s economy relies on federal spending–particularly defense spending–and some of that spending is slated to be cut? This.
Defense contractor ITT Exelis will eliminate jobs at its Roanoke County plant as the company contends with less demand for its products with the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.
“We’ve announced plans to have a reduction in early 2012,” company spokesman Ken Darby said Thursday.
He declined to offer any details, including specifying when the cuts would come or how many employees would lose their jobs.
“We’re still finalizing the numbers,” he said.
The Roanoke County facility produces night vision goggles and while they produce both military and civilian goggles, about 88 percent of their defense-related business is with U.S. Department of Defense. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drawing to a close and, due to the forthcoming automatic cuts to the defense budget triggered by the “Super”committee’s failure, defense contractors like ITT Exelis must begin looking for ways to remain in business. In many cases, that will equate to more unemployed Virginians.
Granted, economic reliance on the Department of Defense in the Roanoke Valley is nowhere near what it is in Northern Virginia and the Hampton Roads area, but the forthcoming job losses in a facility that employs only 1,400 people in a relatively small city will be felt by many in the Roanoke area. Fortunately, the Roanoke Valley has a diversified economy and local leaders are working with the McDonnell Administration and its Chief Jobs Creation Officer, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, to bring new jobs to the area.
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About the author
A lifelong political junkie, Jason caught the political bug as a fifth grader after meeting George Allen in 1993. Since then he has studied political science at both the undergraduate and graduate level. When not perusing the blogs or volunteering for conservative Republicans, Jason enjoys cheering on his beloved Virginia Tech Hokies and spending time at his Bedford County home.
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One Response to "Federal Budget Cuts Reach Southwestern Virginia"
Jason,
As a defense consultant, I can tell you that this just the beginning of the bad news. Another employer out there likely to be making reductions is the Radford Army Ammunition Plant on the New River. They are the single manufacturer of nitrocellulous and other propellants for DoD small arms ammunition and light rockets and missiles. They are a feeder plant to other ammunition plants around the country who do the final assembly of finished items. Once the demand for ammunition items declines, their production rates will decrease. It won’t happen anytime soon because there are demands to refill depleted basic load and war reserve stocks. But it is coming.
Someone should ask Ron Paul at the next Republican debate how he would manage this draw down. It is all well and fine to bring our troops home from foreign interventions, but doing it in an orderly fashion without throwing tens of thousands of skilled workers out on the street is easier said than done.
Speaking of which, how many southwest natives are in the Armed Forces right now? Look for lots of them to be coming home for good next year and looking for jobs. The DoD is planning massive reductions-in-force (RIF) of both mid-career officers and NCOs.
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