Anderson bleeding manufacturing jobs

Guide Corp.’s abrupt decision Friday to close its tail light plant in Anderson immediately instead of in June sped a long-term trend in the city northeast of Indianapolis.

For November, the latest month for which statistics are available from the U.S. Department of Labor, Madison County employment was 44,400 down from 50,100 in 1995. The figures do not include several hundred Guide workers who will lose their jobs due to the plant closing.

Most of the slide has been driven by General Motors Corp. shuttering plants. Guide was a GM unit until it was spun off in 1998.

Head count in manufacturing of durable goods—products such as cars and washing machines that are intended to last at least three years—has fallen by half since 1995.

One business suffering from the loss of manufacturing jobs is Rush Temporaries, according to The Herald-Bulletin. Rush offered 7,000 hours a week of temp work five years ago, but now can offer its temp workers only 1,000 hours.