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August 5, 2009
In a reversal of fortune, LaGrange and Elkhart are adding 357 RV jobs, economic development officials said Tuesday.
Perhaps even more surprising is that 116 of the jobs are moving to LaGrange from Mexico.
The region has bled RV jobs for more than a year. But Sweden-based Dometic LLC said it's moving two RV products operations to the area by 2012.
The announcement came a day before President Obama was scheduled to make a visit to Elkhart County, where he had a town meeting in February as the area's unemployment was among the nation's highest. Obama is expected to speak about noon today to an invitation-only crowd at the Monaco RV LLC plant in Wakarusa.
Dometic is moving production of retractable RV awnings to its LaGrange plant. Dometic already has about 100 workers making air conditioners, canvas products and other items at the plant.
Dometic has space in LaGrange to make the awnings but is adding equipment, said Keith Gillenwater, LaGrange County's economic development director. The jobs, expected to pay about $11.50 an hour, will be added by next year, Gillenwater said.
Dometic is moving the jobs to LaGrange because of a fire at a plant it owns in Mexico. Gillenwater said the movement of jobs to LaGrange from Mexico is a new one on him.
"I'm not saying it's never happened," he said. "But it's the first I've seen."
Dometic also announced Tuesday that it would move 241 jobs making RV refrigerators from Sweden to Elkhart by 2012. Dometic, founded in 1958 as a division of Electrolux, employs 60 in Elkhart.
Seventy percent of Dometic's RV customers are within a 50-mile radius of Elkhart, Dometic President Doug Whyte said in a statement released by the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
The IEDC is giving Dometic up to $1.1 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $320,000 in training grants for moving jobs to LaGrange and Elkhart counties. The town of LaGrange also is forming a tax abatement package, Gillenwater said.
The additional jobs are welcome news to LaGrange County, where March unemployment was the highest rate in Indiana at 18.9 percent. By June, it had dropped to 15.8 percent, the seventh-worst among the state's 92 counties.
Gillenwater said anecdotal reports he's heard indicate that LaGrange County also is enjoying a strong summer tourist season.
Elkhart County often has had Indiana's highest unemployment rate this year. Its June rate stood at 16.8 percent, second-worst in the state.
When Obama visits Wakarusa today, he'll announce grants for advanced battery and electric vehicle manufacturing, the White House said Tuesday.
The IEDC said Tuesday that projects announced for Elkhart County this year are expected to create more than 2,000 jobs.
Among them is a venture in Wakarusa by Electric Motors Corp. and Gulf Stream Coach Inc. to modify pickup trucks to run on electric engines.
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