Oct. 10--The sharp downturn in the nation's economy has hit home in Northeast Mississippi, and not just in stock market plunges affecting retirement plans and other investments.

Within the last two days, four different manufacturers in Lee, Prentiss and Alcorn counties announced they were shutting down operations or laying off a portion of their work force. More than 600 workers are affected by the announcements.

The 16-county region already had unemployment hovering around 9 percent. Unfortunately, this week's layoff notices aren't likely to be the last.

While it's not yet official, there's little doubt that the nation is in a recession, and with the severe crisis in the financial markets, that recession will probably deepen. Mississippi sometimes lags the national trends, but the impact of long-developing economic conditions is unquestionably being felt here.

One indicator was the news this week that state government revenue for the first three months of the fiscal year that begin in July is 2.3 percent below projections, amounting to a nearly $25 million shortfall. While officials aren't yet suggesting mid-year budget cuts will be necessary, they no doubt will be watching tax collections closely in the weeks ahead.

Slow economic times are cyclical, and while that knowledge doesn't help the workers who lose their jobs, it does somewhat temper the overall gloom. It also underscores the wisdom and timeliness of programs designed to ensure that workers keep pace with the economic skills required for survival in the job market and the necessity that young people not yet in the work force prepare themselves adequately.

The recent wave of community college tuition guarantees in counties across Northeast Mississippi is the kind of creative approach that will be needed in spades in the coming years as competitive economic pressures increase -- even during the best of times. Whether the jobs lost in this recession will come back or not remains to be seen, but there's little question that the new jobs available in the future will require more education and more training than has been necessary in the past.

Since the end of World War II, Northeast Mississippi's economy has been innovative, adaptive and resilient. Challenges have always been met with a determination to use them as opportunities to strengthen the foundations of the regional economy.

These are unquestionably challenging times, but good things like Toyota and its suppliers loom on the horizon. In the meantime, Northeast Mississippi will have to build on its historic strengths to ensure that it's well positioned to come out of this downturn in better shape than most.

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Copyright (c) 2008, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo, Miss.

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