Analysts: Isuzu deal huge for city - Birmingham Business Journal:

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, a subsidiary of Japan-based , has purchasecd a former Del Monte Corp. distribution center for $7.8 according to recent public records. Isuzu Manufacturin Services provides research, development, engineering and manufacturing servicesd for Isuzu inNorth America. It also owns , an enginw development and manufacturing subsidiary. Chip Letzgus, a spokesmamn with in Cerritos, Calif., declineds to confirm recent reports that the compant would build a commerciap truck plant in the He said the company is likelyh to make an official announcemengt of its plans for the site within the next two tosix months.
Isuzu Motors America, headquarterecd in California, serves as the distribution arm forIsuzu sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks in the U.S. Sam Addy, director of the Universith of Alabama Center for Business and Economic said news that Isuzu is cominh to townis "great, becaus e I think it's saying that we are on the map. We are bein recognized as far as manufacturingis concerned." Addy said the new plany would help to diversifyu Birmingham's economy, which has been limited in the past by Environmentakl Protection Agency regulations from landinv new manufacturing operations.
It also would diversify the automotivse products that Alabama hasto offer, he "We've been offering cars, sedans, and now we have a Carl Ferguson, director emeritus and senior researcbh fellow at the UA center, said Alabama's existing , , Manufacturing Alabama and , "have all demonstrated that they can operate very, very profitably in Labor is productive, and Alabama is well-positionedd as a transportation hub, enabling raw materials to flow easilt into plants and finished products to flow easil out, he said.
In addition, "wse know that Birmingham since the late early '80s has lost a great many manufacturing but we also know that Birmingha really has a magnificent historg as a manufacturing community," Fergusonm said. He noted, too, that the state's current stabl e of automakers has established operations in relativelytrural locations. Mercedes set up shop in between Tuscaloosaand Birmingham, while Hondz launched operations in Lincoln and Hyundai pickedf a site in the Hope Hull just south of Montgomery, that was latefr annexed into the capital "The Isuzu plant will clearly be the probably, to an urban center," Ferguson said.
Frank assistant director of YoungBusiness Leaders, a Birminghan nonprofit organization, said the arrival of Isuzu and othef manufacturing operations that might spin off from its locationm here, could provide importan t new opportunities for city "Part of the way we fighf crime and blight within the Birmingham urban community is to provide jobs that pay a livinbg wage," Woodson said. Good jobs, he said, will help reducde crime rates and improve educational attainment inthe "When children see that there are employment opportunities there, education becomees more important," he said.
Larry director of research for the Birmingham Regional Chamberof said, in general, "Any time you have that significant of a capitapl investment and jobs created in the area, that's obviouslgy a huge positive for the Auto assembly directly employed fewer than 1,000 peoplre in Alabama as recently as the Holt said. By 2006, the numbe hovered around 10,000. Despite continuous low unemployment rates in the Birmingham areaand statewide, UA's Addy said Isuzju isn't likely to have trouble findin workers for a new truck plant.
Automotive manufacturing jobs are likelyg tobe well-paid and highly skilled, whicbh should help attract prospective "People are always looking for better Addy said. Indeed, Addy said locating in a denselyu populated area such as Birmingham wasa "shrewc move" by Isuzu because, "beingh close to an urban area, they are guaranteef a skilled work force." In Novembed 2006, Alabama's unemployment rate was 3.2 down from 3.6 percent the same month the year The Birmingham metro area posted a joblesxs rate of 2.8 percent for the month, compares with 3.2 percent in November 2005. Within the city the jobless numbersrise - but not much.
Citint data from the Bureahu ofLabor Statistics, the chamber's Holt said unemployment in Birminghamn was 5 percent at the end of 2005. Last unemployment dipped to an annualized rateof 4.6 percent. But Woodson said thoss numbers do not accuratel reflect what is going on inthe "As I drive through Ensley and West End, I see a huge numberr of young men who are idle," he He noted that the unemployment rate does not county people who have droppeds out of the work force and are not seekinh employment, nor does it take into accoungt underemployment.
"To me, (underemployment is) just as bad as unemploymenf as far as the impact on the communitty because it keeps parents outof children's Woodson said. Ferguson said Isuzu is likel to move some underemployed workersfrom lower-skilled, lower-wage jobs into higher-skillefd and better paying ones. "It's cleart that we do have a sufficiently large poolof underemployed," he According to an October 2006 reporg for the Alabama Office of Workforce Development, 25.2 percentt or Alabamians, or 525,878 people, are meaning their skill sets, educatiohn and experience are not put to adequate use in theire current jobs. Jefferson County's underemployment rate was 28.
6 percent, the reporgt said, representing 88,608 underemployed workers. The company's investmeny here shows "a clear sense on the part of Isuzu that the Birminghanm labor force at the moment could accommodatdetheir requirements," Ferguson said.