In an area of southern Virginia long known for double digit unemployment, the announcement that Henry County’s Stanley Furniture plant will lay off 530 workers between October and December of this year is discouraging.
Stanley, a major employer in the region, offered a sliver of good news with the announcement that it would keep 200 jobs at its corporate headquarters as well as the restructured domestic assembly and finishing facility in Martinsville.
The loss of employees at Stanley followed a recent announcement that American of Martinsville would be laying off 208 employees.
Virginia’s Secretary of Commerce and Trade Jim Cheng said he would coordinate efforts to assist laid off workers as they began looking elsewhere for employment. Recent announcements by three companies to provide 500 new jobs for the area should help. Faneuil’s new customer service facility will employ 250, EcomNets’ new manufacturing center in Danville will create 160 new jobs, and Monogram Snacks will be adding 110 jobs.
Gov. Bob McDonnell and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who have made job creation a top priority since taking office in January, released a statement concerning Stanley Furniture’s layoffs, and promoted legislation designed to help southern Virginia provide more jobs. In part, they said:
“This past session of the General Assembly local leaders, including Delegates Ward Armstrong, Danny Marshall, Don Merricks, and Charlie Poindexter and Senators Roscoe Reynolds and Robert Hurt, were instrumental in moving forward our broad package of initiatives designed to spur job creation and economic development in Southern Virginia.
“We lowered the threshold for the Major Business Facility Tax Credit to 25 jobs in severely economically distressed regions, including Southern Virginia. We expanded the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, doubling the resources available and broadening its approved uses, to further assist our proactive efforts to attract job-creating businesses to Southern Virginia.
“We created a major employment/investment project site planning grant fund to help localities develop sites specific to potential new employers looking to move to their area. We also expanded Virginia’s enterprise zones.
“Taken together, these policies will allow Southern Virginia’s cities and counties, working in conjunction with the state, to better compete for job creation opportunities in the years ahead.”
Southern Virginia, once rich in tobacco, textile, and furniture industries, has been hit hard with a declining market. The Governor had indicated he will continue working to offset layoffs with new job opportunities.
