KNOXVILLE (WVLT) – When you add the recent cuts to the federal interest rate along with the roller-coaster stock market, rising gas prices, and weak sales of homes and cars, you may be wondering how safe your own job might be?
There are still a lot of question marks out there, namely, whether one company's re-alignment,
or right-sizing might prompt others to trim as their margins thin.
Knoxville landscaper Susan Price said her sister-in-law Marge has felt the pinch for more than a year.
“They say she's skilled out and she's overqualified,” said Susan, “but I think when you hit your forties and are without a job, it's hard to get back in the job market.”
On Thursday, Goody's Corporation announced it would be cutting 30 employees from its West Knoxville headquarters.
“I wouldn't read anything more into it than that Goody's is trying to realign what its business plan is,” said Matt Murray, a UT Business and Research analyst. “I would be more concerned in what's going on in the overall economy and the overall slowdown.”
So far, the economic slow down hasn't meant huge job cuts.
In fact, a recent survey of 14,000 companies found that more than half of them have told their workers that they don’t plan any layoffs.
Those numbers are slightly better in the South.
“We will bear some of the brunt, but the Metro Area, particularly Knox County, will do better than other areas around us,” said Murray.
The reason why, according to Murray, is that the largest employers in the region are resistant to recession.
For example, UT will keep educating, hospitals will always have the sick to treat, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory will always be tasked with research and national security.
“Consumers are worried about the most important asset that they own,” Murray said, “their home.”
“I've got a lot of friends that are getting pretty desperate now with their loans, their housing loans, and if they're going to get repossessed,” said Marge Price, who is a Lenoir City resident.
Murray figures the waters could calm towards the end of the year as the companies who were laying off could start calling people back.
There are some exceptions.
“If the housing market bottoms out, and doesn't get worse, and at the same time, businesses choose not to invest in new plants and equipment, we could have a near collapse of the construction sector,” said Murray, who admitted that was doubtful.
But Susan Price said she can tell there is trouble from what her landscaping clients tell her:
“They want you, when you go back to redo the contract, to cut back as best you can,” she said.
Goody's said it does not plan to make any more cuts, but may not replace everybody who moves on or retires.
According to Murray, we could see more of that in other companies this year.
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