Tales off Ten Cities

(6 of 6)

Despite its best efforts at morale building, the city is hurting. For years the nation's second-largest automobile assembly center, St. Louis was devastated by the slump that hit the car industry in 1979. Unemployment is at 11%. A General Motors plant in the city, which once manufactured everything from pickup trucks to Corvettes and provided jobs for 10,000, now employs only 1,400. Chrysler Corp. closed its truck plant in nearby Fenton, throwing 4,300 people onto the street. There are some signs, however, that St. Louis may have more to cheer about next year than the World Series-winning Cardinals: Chrysler is adding a new shift of 1,700 to its Fenton auto assembly plant, anticipating a brisk demand for its new line of G24 sports cars.

WICHITA. Four years ago, this community's fortunes were so high that its main problem was finding enough workers to accept its jobs. A bustling producer of meat, wheat, planes, oil and gas, Wichita (pop. 279,000) had the remarkably low unemployment rate of 2.8%. With rows of aerospace plants and enormous grain elevators rising from the prairies, it exuded a robust self-confidence. But the aircraft industry, as well as others, nosedived. More than 20,000 workers were laid off, and the unemployment rate is now 8.5%. "If we can just get people through the next six to nine months, things will be a lot better," says Don Anderson, director of the city's housing and economic-development program.

City fathers regard their current problems as a temporary setback and are banking on Wichita's diversified aircraft industry to ignite a new takeoff. Beech Aircraft, Cessna and Gates Learjet serve the general aviation market, while production at Boeing, the city's largest employer, is 55% defense related. Boeing and Beech reportedly plan to hire 8,000 more employees over the next few years. Unlike many other Midwest cities, Wichita may need no major economic retooling. Says Jerry Mallot, a Chamber of Commerce official: "Much of our industry is in the high-tech area. We don't produce steel or autos. We have the products of the future." —By Maureen Dowd. Reported by Barbara B. Dolan/Detroit and J. Madeline Nash/Chicago