Latest posts for the thread "Hynix To Shut Down"

Re: Hynix To Shut Down

dj_eep — GMT

As a former "contractor" at the plant, I'm glad to have gotten out of there when I did, about two months ago.

Re: 12 months savings?
HA! Try telling that to the person trying to keep the lights on and food in the kitchen. How do you save up 12mos worth when you can't find a job to start with?

Re: Re: Hynix To Shut Down

skeptictank — GMT

There's no such thing as a permanent job anymore - hasn't been for a long time, but they're getting less "permanent" all the time. You should always have at least 6 months of living expenses saved up. If I lived in a place like Eugene where job prospects are slim I'd probably want to have at least 12 months saved up.

Re: Hynix To Shut Down

Tom D Ford — GMT

I guess a lesson in here is to save your wages as if you're going to lose your job tomorrow.

Re: Hynix To Shut Down

skeptictank — GMT

How about the shift from employees to contractors? Especially in the construction industry: these are people who are not employees and thus don't file for unemployment. Isn't this causing unemployment to be under-reported?

Re: Hynix To Shut Down

Tom D Ford — GMT

I've seen past articles in The Oregonian that say businesses are attracted to Oregon because of our great livability and that tax breaks are not needed. I suspect there is a tendency to give up too much to businesses. If a business demands extortionate tax breaks why would we want that business anyway?

Re: Hynix To Shut Down

skeptictank — GMT

Isn't it unlikely that Hynix employees would be able to work in jobs at the new hospital without several years of re-training?

Re: Hynix To Shut Down

skeptictank — GMT

From what I understand, the Hynix shutdown has more to do with the equipment in the fabs becoming obsolete and less to do with the economy. Yes, we are on the downslope of a very serious recession (probably the worst since the early 80s) but so far high tech in Oregon is doing pretty well. In the aftermath of the .com implosion tech was impacted heavily, but in this downturn tech seems to be one of the last industries to go down. But eventually, as the recession deepens even tech will be effected.

Personally, as a software engineer even if I could find a good job in Eugene I would be very hesitant to move there and buy a home. If you lose a tech job down there you're pretty much guaranteed to have to move elsewhere.

Re: Hynix To Shut Down

Tom D Ford — GMT

What is/was it about Lane County that attracted a foreign company? Eugene is a great and very livable city but what else attracted Hynix that could attract another business in the future?

Re: Re: Hynix To Shut Down

mageeraej — GMT

"Where will the next good-paying jobs for Lane County come from? "
Where will the next good paying job for anywhere come from?

It doesn't pay to get a job too far away, because you end up just paying to get there and back, especially if it is a minimum wage job. So even if there are jobs available it just might not pay to take them. Could this ultimately be good as it gets us to re-evaluate how we live and impact the planet?

Re: Hynix To Shut Down

trurl9 — GMT

What does 5.5% unemployment mean? Sounds like a low rate of unemployment but the shift from good to poorer paying jobs needs to be factored. When I hear that people are working two or more lesser paying jobs, the unemployment number provides a false positive statistic. Also, with the cost of everything rising, the insecurity and poor pay of today's jobs doesn't inspire confidence. Where will the next good-paying jobs for Lane County come from? What concessions will Lane County make to secure those jobs? Good luck ex-Hynix employees.

Re: Re: Hynix To Shut Down

Tom D Ford — GMT

Waiters and waitresses ought to unionize and negotiate for fair wages and get rid of the tip system. In France the serving people consider themselves professionals and consider a tip to be an insult.

Re: Hynix To Shut Down

bethanyjoy — GMT

As a waitress, when the economy started to go downhill I worried that a lot of people would quit dining out and that my restaurant would have to schedule less shifts as a result. Fortunately, that hasn't really happened. What has happened, however, is that the people who dine out aren't tipping nearly as well as they used to. So while I'm still working the same amount of hours, and serving the same amount of people, I'm now bringing home about a third less money than I used to. I've tried to pick up extra shifts to help compensate, but since everyone I work with is in the same boat as me, noone is wanting to give away shifts anymore.

Re: Re: Re: Hynix To Shut Down

Tom D Ford — GMT

Thanks, David.

That's the kind of information I was wondering about.

I have no problem with the public supporting businesses but I think it should be reviewed regularly to be sure that it pays off for both the business and the public.

Re: Re: Hynix To Shut Down

David Miller — GMT

Tom,

The Eugene Register-Guard has an answer to your first question:

"Since 1996, Hynix has paid $56.55 million in property taxes. It has been waived a further $66.86 million in property taxes under a series of enterprise zone exemptions."

Recently, Hynix has been paying around $2.5 to $2.7 million in property taxes -- or between 2.25 and 2.5% of the city's general fund budget -- a year.

Re: Hynix To Shut Down

Tom D Ford — GMT

I wonder how much in property tax breaks Lane County gave up to get Hynix to build there. Will anyone go back over those tax break deals and sort out whether they paid off for the County, Eugene, or Springfield?

Was Eminent Domain used to get property for Hynix and how did that work out?

How much in subsidies were paid to train employees at LCC or U of O and how did that work out?

Did the property taxes paid fully pay for the Police and Fire services? Other City or County services?

In other words, how much did the taxpayer pay for the jobs to be made available and was it worth the costs?

Hynix To Shut Down

Sarah Jane Rothenfluch — GMT

[Posted by Sarah Jane Rothenfluch on July 24, 2008]

LISTEN TO "Hynix To Shut Down" (24MB MP3)

Lane County got some bad news today. Hynix, one of the region's largest employers, just announced that they will close their plant in Eugene and lay off 1,400 people. This surprise news will hit those employees hard -- potentially forcing many of them out of Lane County to find jobs. But many more than 1,400 people will be hurt by the news. Tim Duy, an economist at the University of Oregon, told the Register-Guard that Hynix's closure "will certainly resonate around the county."

This is the biggest layoff in Lane County history. The Sony compact disc plant closed in 2003, laying off 277 people. And in 2001 Hynix temporarily laid off 600 employees, but brought them back six months later after the plant had been reorganized. There's scant hope that Hynix will rehire this time.

While Oregon's latest unemployment numbers (June) were only down one tenth of one percentage point from the previous month to 5.5 percent, construction, timber and manufacturing jobs still felt the impact of this slowing economy.

How is the slowdown impacting you? Are you a Hynix employee who received formal news today that the plant is closing? Do you know what you will do? If you live in Lane County, how do you feel this closure will impact you? Or are you totally separate from the Hynix closure, but really worried about the security of your own job?

Photo credit: Khalilshah / Flickr / Creative Commons