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Hynix To Shut Down

AIR DATE: Monday, July 28th 2008

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Are you worried about losing your job?

Lane County got some bad news today. Hynix, one of the region's largest employers, just announced that they will close their plant in Eugene and lay off 1,400 people. This surprise news will hit those employees hard -- potentially forcing many of them out of Lane County to find jobs. But many more than 1,400 people will be hurt by the news. Tim Duy, an economist at the University of Oregon, told the Register-Guard that Hynix's closure "will certainly resonate around the county."

This is the biggest layoff in Lane County history. The Sony compact disc plant closed in 2003, laying off 277 people. And in 2001 Hynix temporarily laid off 600 employees, but brought them back six months later after the plant had been reorganized. There's scant hope that Hynix will rehire this time.

While Oregon's latest unemployment numbers (June) were only down one tenth of one percentage point from the previous month to 5.5 percent, construction, timber and manufacturing jobs still felt the impact of this slowing economy.

How is the slowdown impacting you? Are you a Hynix employee who received formal news today that the plant is closing? Do you know what you will do? If you live in Lane County, how do you feel this closure will impact you? Or are you totally separate from the Hynix closure, but really worried about the security of your own job?

Photo credit: Khalilshah / Flickr / Creative Commons

Tagged as: business · jobs · recession · unemployment

When capital and industry began moving off shore, that ought to have been a wake up call. But those cheap foreign made goods lulled everyone into thinking that there was no down-stream addtional cost to buying abroad.  Like trade imbalances and an ever expanded money supply. And now. no decent jobs at all and everyone is left wondering: "what the hell happened to America?"

When the hired suits in the corporate owned  media started assuring everyone that the US could get by very well with our lead in high tech and all the other economic advantages we held it should have been seriously questioned by economists. It wasn't.  Simultaneous with the shut down of our smoke stack industries our universities were training up hundreds of thousands of the foreign engineers and scientists who would carry those skills home where they were soon enticing US capital. Soon enough that high tech lead joined the smoke stack industries in the stampede to move where taxes and regulation and cheap labor were too attractive to resist.

Then componding this disaster we have been bamboozled into accepting a national security strategy based on unending warfare. This does give employment to millions of youth who otherwise might take to the streets screaming for jobs. One last thought on economics and altruism.

Something I learned in the aid business: "give a man a fish and you must feed him every day. Teach a man to fish and he'll soon be poaching in your waters".  It is true.  No good deed goes unpunished.

Gereng — Thu June 10th 10:33a.m.

I wonder how much in property tax breaks Lane County gave up to get Hynix to build there. Will anyone go back over those tax break deals and sort out whether they paid off for the County, Eugene, or Springfield?


Was Eminent Domain used to get property for Hynix and how did that work out?


How much in subsidies were paid to train employees at LCC or U of O and how did that work out?


Did the property taxes paid fully pay for the Police and Fire services? Other City or County services?


In other words, how much did the taxpayer pay for the jobs to be made available and was it worth the costs?

Tom D Ford — Thu July 24th 8:43p.m.

Tom,

The Eugene Register-Guard has an answer to your first question:

"Since 1996, Hynix has paid $56.55 million in property taxes. It has been waived a further $66.86 million in property taxes under a series of enterprise zone exemptions."

Recently, Hynix has been paying around $2.5 to $2.7 million in property taxes -- or between 2.25 and 2.5% of the city's general fund budget -- a year.

David Miller — Mon July 28th 10:25a.m.

Thanks, David.

That's the kind of information I was wondering about.

I have no problem with the public supporting businesses but I think it should be reviewed regularly to be sure that it pays off for both the business and the public.

Tom D Ford — Mon July 28th 11:26a.m.

As a waitress, when the economy started to go downhill I worried that a lot of people would quit dining out and that my restaurant would have to schedule less shifts as a result. Fortunately, that hasn't really happened. What has happened, however, is that the people who dine out aren't tipping nearly as well as they used to. So while I'm still working the same amount of hours, and serving the same amount of people, I'm now bringing home about a third less money than I used to. I've tried to pick up extra shifts to help compensate, but since everyone I work with is in the same boat as me, noone is wanting to give away shifts anymore.

bethanyjoy — Fri July 25th 9:46p.m.

Waiters and waitresses ought to unionize and negotiate for fair wages and get rid of the tip system. In France the serving people consider themselves professionals and consider a tip to be an insult.

Tom D Ford — Sat July 26th 8:52p.m.

What does 5.5% unemployment mean? Sounds like a low rate of unemployment but the shift from good to poorer paying jobs needs to be factored. When I hear that people are working two or more lesser paying jobs, the unemployment number provides a false positive statistic. Also, with the cost of everything rising, the insecurity and poor pay of today's jobs doesn't inspire confidence. Where will the next good-paying jobs for Lane County come from? What concessions will Lane County make to secure those jobs? Good luck ex-Hynix employees.

trurl9 — Mon July 28th 11:37a.m.

"Where will the next good-paying jobs for Lane County come from? "
Where will the next good paying job for anywhere come from?

It doesn't pay to get a job too far away, because you end up just paying to get there and back, especially if it is a minimum wage job. So even if there are jobs available it just might not pay to take them. Could this ultimately be good as it gets us to re-evaluate how we live and impact the planet?

mageeraej — Mon July 28th 11:59a.m.

What is/was it about Lane County that attracted a foreign company? Eugene is a great and very livable city but what else attracted Hynix that could attract another business in the future?

Tom D Ford — Mon July 28th 12:21p.m.

From what I understand, the Hynix shutdown has more to do with the equipment in the fabs becoming obsolete and less to do with the economy. Yes, we are on the downslope of a very serious recession (probably the worst since the early 80s) but so far high tech in Oregon is doing pretty well. In the aftermath of the .com implosion tech was impacted heavily, but in this downturn tech seems to be one of the last industries to go down. But eventually, as the recession deepens even tech will be effected.

Personally, as a software engineer even if I could find a good job in Eugene I would be very hesitant to move there and buy a home. If you lose a tech job down there you're pretty much guaranteed to have to move elsewhere.

skeptictank — Mon July 28th 12:30p.m.

Isn't it unlikely that Hynix employees would be able to work in jobs at the new hospital without several years of re-training?

skeptictank — Mon July 28th 12:40p.m.

I've seen past articles in The Oregonian that say businesses are attracted to Oregon because of our great livability and that tax breaks are not needed. I suspect there is a tendency to give up too much to businesses. If a business demands extortionate tax breaks why would we want that business anyway?

Tom D Ford — Mon July 28th 12:42p.m.

How about the shift from employees to contractors? Especially in the construction industry: these are people who are not employees and thus don't file for unemployment. Isn't this causing unemployment to be under-reported?

skeptictank — Mon July 28th 12:48p.m.

I guess a lesson in here is to save your wages as if you're going to lose your job tomorrow.

Tom D Ford — Mon July 28th 1:06p.m.

There's no such thing as a permanent job anymore - hasn't been for a long time, but they're getting less "permanent" all the time. You should always have at least 6 months of living expenses saved up. If I lived in a place like Eugene where job prospects are slim I'd probably want to have at least 12 months saved up.

skeptictank — Mon July 28th 2:43p.m.

As a former "contractor" at the plant, I'm glad to have gotten out of there when I did, about two months ago.

Re: 12 months savings?
HA! Try telling that to the person trying to keep the lights on and food in the kitchen. How do you save up 12mos worth when you can't find a job to start with?

dj eep — Tue July 29th 4:30a.m.

Comments are now closed.