Aug. 31--At the end of 2000, the manufacturing and technology industries in Colorado Springs were booming, local incomes had nearly reached the national average and Intel Corp. had announced plans to open a semiconductor manufacturing plant here.

The economic landscape in Colorado Springs has changed dramatically since then. Manufacturing employment declined nearly 40 percent from its January 2001 peak to the lowest level since the end of 1979. The local information technology industry has lost nearly half of its jobs since January 2001 and is at its lowest level in more than a decade. And this year, Intel closed its Springs chip plant and is laying off most of its 1,000 local employees.

In all, nearly 15,000 jobs in manufacturing and information technology have disappeared during the past 7 1/2 years. Many were replaced by mostly lower-paying jobs in government, call centers and health care. As a result, wages earned by workers in the Springs aren't keeping up with inflation, forcing them to dig into their savings, put less away for their retirement and other goals or reduce their spending on things such as eating out, entertainment and vacations.

The losses reach far beyond the factory door and office cubicle to merchants, mechanics and others who now have fewer well-heeled customers buying groceries, oil changes and other products and services than in 2000. Manufacturing and information technology jobs can support as many as two additional workers in other industries as the wages they earn -- 35 percent to 55 percent more than the county's average -- circulate through the local economy.

Most of the local manufacturing and information technology jobs didn't vanish, but rather moved to Latin America, China and the rest of Asia as businesses sought lower costs and often massive subsidies offered by Asian governments to lure jobs and spur economic growth. As a result, economic development officials are about to launch a $150,000 study to determine what is needed to attract well-paying jobs that include benefits such as health insurance.

Kelly Parker, who has been laid off five times in 22 years by electronics manufacturers, said he hopes local economic development officials find that answer soon. After losing his technician job at Intel in December, Parker looked for five months before landing a job repairing electronic equipment for two-thirds of what he made at Intel without benefits. He ended up spending about 25 percent of his retirement savings to pay his bills while he was unemployed.

"I applied for 75 jobs, but I only had three interviews," Parker said. "I find myself more judicious about eating out and buying groceries. My dogs are still eating well, but I am not contributing at all to my retirement right now."

Shift in industries

Much of the growth of the Colorado Springs economy during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s was fueled by a huge influx of electronics manufacturers ranging from semiconductor manufacturers such as Honeywell, Inmos and NCR to computer manufacturers such as Digital and software development operations such as MCI. All offered good-paying jobs with benefits that helped make the local economy less dependent on the Defense Department.

Along with the manufacturers, more jobs came from suppliers and service vendors providing everything from sheet metal to the "bunny suits" worn by workers in chip plants to keep dust and other contamination away from the delicate circuits.

By the mid-1990s, manufacturing jobs were starting to move overseas, starting with Quantum Corp. moving disk-drive manufacturing operations it acquired from Digital to Malaysia, followed by Agilent Technologies sending much of its production work to Asia.