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Article originally published Jan. 1, 2009, 0830. Accompanying chart updated Jan. 29, 2009, 3:45 p.m. Body of article unchanged.-Ed.
Just as Tennessee was putting the lid on 2008 job-loss statistics, the region's largest KIA auto dealer closed shop.
There's little solace in the fact that the dozens of jobs eliminated by Tuesday's closing of Lifetime KIA in Morristown probably won't be included in the 2008 record for the state, but will instead inaugurate the 2009 layoff season.
Nearly 18,000 Tennessee workers were affected by plant closings and mass layoffs declared here in 2008, in about 260 employer actions. It's the worst scene since the 2001-02 period (see chart, below) when more than 50,000 workers were affected in that two-year period associated with the Dot.com bust and other contractions.
Yesterday, the State's dislocated worker rapid response unit in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development learned that the KIA dealership owned by Mark Nadler had abruptly closed its doors, Dec. 30.
Although the official KIA workforce toll was reported to the state as 37, news reports in East Tennessee indicate that at least 50 jobs were affected, and that the workforce had not long ago number about 100. Nadler reportedly cited restrictive bank lending and consumer retrenchment as reasons for closings.
Internet chat rooms were alight with mostly caustic postings from Lifetime KIA customers, many worrying whether or not their title and tags payments for recent purchases had been made by the dealer, and concerned they'd need to drive farther to the area's other KIA dealers for service.
One Lifetime KIA employee asked not to be identified when reached yesterday by VNC. He said he'd been running Lifetime's Internet marketing, a growing strategy for dealers, and was selling 20 or more cars a month, but cutbacks at the dealership in sales and service had made continued Internet marketing meaningless.
The 31-year-old marketer said he's been in car sales for years. Asked if he loves cars, he responded, "Not anymore."
The company's report arrived state offices Dec. 31 and a state data analyst said the numbers will be included in the January 2009 report. Data report compiled by VNC follows below. [Related data at The VN Blog.]
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PLANT CLOSINGS AND WORKFORCE LAYOFFS IN TENNESSEE
Black numbers are Federal Mass Layoff Stats. Red numbers based on State of Tennessee Data. VNC believes differences between Federal and State numbers are mainly due to the fact Fed numbers reflect only closings or layoffs lasting more than 30 days each. Any errors of interpretation are VNC's.
(1) Federal Statistics for Period
(2) TN Data: Number of events (closings and layoffs)
(3) TN Data: Total workers affected for period
* denotes Data derived from State of Tennessee through Dec. 29, 2008.
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| Year |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1999 |
21 |
16 |
9 |
-(2) |
16 |
13 |
18 |
6 |
-(2) |
4 |
8 |
17 |
131 (1)
108 (2)
13,724 (3) |
| 2000 |
28 |
4 |
5 |
11 |
7 |
20 |
12 |
5 |
6 |
8 |
15 |
23 |
144
117
14,057 |
| 2001 |
26 |
12 |
15 |
16 |
9 |
28 |
12 |
15 |
11 |
16 |
16 |
27 |
203
295
25,913 |
| 2002 |
27 |
14 |
19 |
8 |
20 |
17 |
17 |
8 |
13 |
5 |
20 |
19 |
187
202
26,010 |
| 2003 |
24 |
12 |
15 |
12 |
18 |
22 |
18 |
15 |
5 |
4 |
8 |
15 |
168
180
13,169 |
| 2004 |
25 |
19 |
14 |
11 |
16 |
16 |
16 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
14 |
15 |
174
190
16,807 |
| 2005 |
33 |
4 |
10 |
14 |
19 |
15 |
11 |
10 |
7 |
7 |
11 |
25 |
166
164
13,704 |
| 2006 |
19 |
6 |
10 |
9 |
14 |
26 |
11 |
8 |
7 |
14 |
10 |
26 |
160
193
12,487 |
| 2007 |
22 |
6 |
9 |
16 |
13 |
23 |
12 |
9 |
-(2) |
11 |
16 |
16 |
155
184
14,584 |
| 2008 |
13 |
13 |
9 |
8 |
24 |
19 |
18 |
17 |
12 |
22 |
36 |
50
39*
4,169* |
241
260*
17,820* |
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