What happens to towns when the main employer goes under?

tomterm8

Don't forget that even in the richest part of kent, such as Tunbridge Wells, there are still pockets of poverty that can be much deeper than most people would expect. Trust me, being poor in kent is not fun, there is no support network at all.

itsnever2lateisit?

tomterm8 wrote: »

Don't forget that even in the richest part of kent, such as Tunbridge Wells, there are still pockets of poverty that can be much deeper than most people would expect. Trust me, being poor in kent is not fun, there is no support network at all.

Are you 'disgusted' of Royal Tunbridge Wells?

vivatifosi

I don't think you can compare what will happen here with what has happened in the Midwest. I have friends in Michigan and when things started closing down around where they were (in a big city) the nearest big city was a three hour drive away. Under those circumstances whole towns do die, just as they did when the freeway took over from Route 66. You just don't have the miles of space between towns here.

However the rate of structural unemployment does go up in areas affected by the loss of a big employer where there are no real alternatives. A major issue - in both the 80s with the loss of coal mines and now with the loss of white collar jobs - is that the employment tends to be among the best paid in the area. This is exactly the same scenario for car plants facing closure.

In the past (before the eastern bloc joined the EU), money was made available to help the poorest areas of the country redevelop structurally. In addition, tax incentives were offered to get firms to move to less attractive areas - ironically that was the case with the LDDC in the very early days of London Docklands. In other previous employment blackspots the government made a deliberate economic strategy to move civil service jobs out of London and to the regions. However replacing very well paid jobs with the same level of wage is often difficult. Options: move, commute, take early retirement, get paid less or retrain into something different, some will sadly end up unemployed for lengthy periods also.

hullight

Maybe the UK will get ghost towns like in the USA.

Davesnave

hullight wrote: »

Maybe the UK will get ghost towns like in the USA.

We have. Here's one I visited earlier, in 1983. I got a shock, as I'd just picked it at random as a place to do a spot of fishing! Totally deserted, and relatively new at the time.

http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/Portavadie

It's a bit better now, but not a lot!

Generali

To give a current example:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7973008.stm

These guys are screwed. They've bought houses on 25 year mortgages and there just isn't any other work in town. And these places are in the middle of nowhere so they can't commute somewhere else.

It's hard to see what can be done. Should the Aussie taxpayer subsidise them indefinitely be because, unless the mine re-opens again, there isn't going to be any work in these towns except selling cheap booze and handing out giros.

Unfortunately, it's tough luck. I have a lot of sympathy but bad things happen sometimes and we can't expect the Government to ensure that everyone gets a comfy lifestyle for the whole of their lives as the money just isn't there. These guys have got good skills for the most part and they should find other work. It won't be in the town in which they're living right now I wouldn't think.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

tomterm8 wrote: »

They die. During the great depression there was 75% unemployment in some towns. Those towns ceased to exist.[/quote

So true,where I was born and lived as a child,there was either the coal industry or the shipyards.Both died a death.
Most people moved away and I recently went back for the day to visit some elderly relatives who still live there in a nursing home.
The whole town is a shadow of it's former self.Shops gone,replaced by a multitude of charity shops and cheap eating places.It's like chav central and a very sad place indeed.Even the houses seem tatty.It seems to be a dumping ground for new immigrants nowadays as no one else wants to live there.

tomterm8

itsnever2lateisit? wrote: »

Are you 'disgusted' of Royal Tunbridge Wells?

Nah, I am in the little village next door no one ever knows about. Pembury.

Generali

tomterm8 wrote: »

Nah, I am in the little village next door no one ever knows about. Pembury.

Pembury is nice. I love it round there.

robin_banks

Vinegartits wrote: »

Was there not a growth in service industries, call-centres and the like? I wondered when this re-growth started and also if the economic hardship following pit closures caused a mass exodus to other areas, cities etc

Nah.

Where call centres did crop up the workforce was largely made up of office staff, the main issue for unemployed miners was there skills were not easily transferrable to other industries, so the jobs created were taken by those already in work. Little was offerd in the way of re-training.

With regard to the 'mass exodus' some no doubt left they tended to be younger, the older ex-miners stayed.

15+ years on these towns are still ****ed (the only word I think of that accurately describes the plight of these towns).