Unemployment has
taken a sharp dive in Ottawa County
after a late-summer hiring spree at
Tracker MArine, a boat building operation
that now employs more than 200 workers.
Unemployment rates in the county have
dropped from 8.3 percent in July to
6.6 percent in September, the latest
month for which Oklahoma Economic Security
Commission figures are available.
The rates give Ottawa County the 15th
highest unemployment rate in Oklahoma,
a drastic change from a year ago when
the county had the highest rate in the
state.
"I'd say it's because of Tracker
Marine," said Judee Snodderly,
the executive director of the Miami
Area Economic Development Authority.
"They've been hiring and some of
the other manufacturers have been hiring
as well."
A subsidiary of Bass Pro Shops in Springfield,
Mo., Tracker Marine began operations
in Miami in late January after purchasing
a boat manufacturing plant closed by
rival Bayliner Marine in September of
2001.
The Miami plant is currently producting
12 boats from Tracker's Tahoe line each
week. Sixty days ago about 100 workers
at the plant were turning out three
or four boats a week, according to Steve
Campbell, plant manager.
"We found an experienced workforce
here in Miami because many of our employees
had worked for Bayliner," he said.
"Our employees have a combined
1,000 years of boat building experience."
Campbell said the company plans to increase
weekly production to 15 boats in the
next few months.
"we'll stabilize for a while so
we can keep producing a quality product
while we add new employees," Campbell
said. "Bass Pro is expanding and
our independent dealers are also picking
up. There's a lot of demand for our
product."
The company continues to take applications,
but Campbell said he expects hiring
to slow as the Miami plant trains recently
hired workers and integrates them into
production lines.
Tracker Marine is expected to eventually
employ about 250 workers. |
