Indy packaging plant leads list of layoffs

Color-Box to trim 74 jobs; Employers in Middlebury, Richmond will cut 209 more

By Tom Spalding





In Indianapolis, Color-Box will shed 74 jobs at its cardboard-packaging plant, according to filings with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

Elsewhere:

Ohio-based General Aluminum plans a layoff of 84 workers in Richmond starting around March 8.

Middlebury-based Patriot Homes says it is closing its 11-year-old Crystal Valley division, laying off 125 employees in Elkhart County.

In the past year, manufacturers in all sectors laid off or eliminated 30,000 jobs in Indiana, contributing to the state's 7.1 percent unemployment rate in November.

The state's rate for December is expected to be announced next week. Nationally, the unemployment rate for December jumped to 7.2 percent, the highest in 16 years.

Unemployment in Indiana has neared levels last seen in the final years of the crippling 1980s recession that battered the Midwest's industrial base.

"Usually unemployment is the lagging indicator. It'll get a lot worse before it gets better," said Matt Will, afinance professor at the University of Indianapolis.

Call Star reporter Tom Spalding at (317) 444-6202.