THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507150323
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Up to 750,000 defense-industry workers could lose their jobs by 2001, says a study by a nonpartisan commission.
Last year alone, nearly 145,000 jobs were lost as the government continued to cut defense spending with the end of the Cold War, the National Commission for Economic Conversion and Disarmament said Thursday.
The commission's report was released as President Clinton approved a plan to close or consolidate 105 military bases at the cost of up to 43,000 jobs over the next five years.
About 800,000 defense-related jobs have disappeared since the commission began tracking employment in the defense industry in 1990, the study found.
Continued Defense Department budget cuts indicate that the downsizing will persist unabated, it added.
``Another half-million to three-quarters of a million defense industry workers are at risk of losing their jobs'' by 2001, it projected.
The commission said defense contractors eliminated 76,800 jobs in 1994 through layoffs, early retirements and plant closures. It estimated that subcontractors and suppliers cut an additional 68,000 jobs.
``It is already evident that 1995's job losses will exceed that of 1994,'' the report said. ``Through the first half of this year, defense contractors have announced 48,000 job cuts. The indirect job losses bring the total to 89,000.''
The commission is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization financed by large foundations and private contributions.
The report said Congressional Budget Office studies show that about one-third of defense-industry workers require retraining assistance, but federal programs have only been able to serve about 30 percent of those in need.
The report was released as the Republican-led Congress was considering legislation that would sharply cut government assistance for displaced workers, including income support, job training and counseling.
Christine Evans-Klock, a research economist and the report's author, said that government aid usually is available for military personnel returning from wars.
But with the end of the Cold War, ``there's nothing for displaced workers to return to,'' she said.
Defense-industry mergers resulted in the biggest layoffs. Lockheed Martin Corp., the product of a recent merger, announced last month that it would eliminate 19,000 positions by the end of 1996. Northrop Grumman gave pink slips to 11,000 workers in 1994, the report said.
By region, the West Coast and New England suffered the biggest defense job losses in the past 18 months, the report said.
In 1994, California alone accounted for 22 percent of the employment casualties. Connecticut and Massachusetts together accounted for another 15 percent, followed by Texas, 9 percent; Pennsylvania, 7 percent; and New York, Virginia and Florida, 4 percent each.
KEYWORDS: DEFENSE INDUSTRY JOBLESS by CNB