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Evans: Economy is getting better
by George Talbot, Mobile Register
November 18, 2003

Southwest Alabama can join the rest of the nation on the road to economic recovery by embracing free trade and supporting the Bush administration's efforts to open new markets, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans said Monday at an economic summit in Mobile.

"I believe our work to expand free trade presents particularly good opportunities for the city of Mobile, because it means more goods coming to this port -- one of the Gulf's best deepwater ports -- and that means more jobs and opportunities for people here," Evans told an audience of about 400 area business and political leaders at the daylong conference, held at the downtown Adam's Mark Hotel.

Evans, a key member of President Bush's economic team, said the United States has a responsibility to spread its system of capitalism to other countries struggling to find their way in an increasingly complex and competitive global economy.

"Expanding trade is about creating jobs and also about leading the world to prosperity," Evans said. "American companies and American workers benefit when the rest of the world gets stronger. Competition is our strength, and competition leads to innovation, which leads to higher productivity, which leads to economic growth and a higher standard living for us all.

"The thing that is difficult for some people to understand is that, as other economies grow, we grow with them."

Free trade has evolved into a hot-button issue in old-economy Alabama, which has lost thousands of jobs in recent years in its textile, paper, timber and chemical mills, with some of that production moving overseas. The Mobile area, with its historic dependence on smokestack industries, has suffered as much as any area of the state, and the rate of unemployment -- 6 percent in the metropolitan area -- is among the highest of the state's urban centers. The area lost 3,760 jobs in the three months ending in September, according to state figures.

"Everyone wants to talk about job losses in the last few years, but we created 286,000 net new jobs in the last three months," Evans said. "A job is at the very core of the American dream, and at the very core of the universal dream. It's what everybody around the world wants. If anybody is out there looking for a job and doesn't have a job, we've still got work to do. We can't be complacent, and we won't be."

Evans, citing recent increases in consumer spending, business investment and disposable personal income, said the national economy is in recovery.

"We were handed a pretty tough hand to play when we entered office 2 years ago," Evans said. "But where we're going looks pretty good to me. It's an exciting moment for our economy. I have a lot of optimism."

Evans' 30-minute speech capped a conference organized by U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, to create ideas to stimulate the southwest Alabama economy.

"Today is not an ending, but a beginning," Bonner said. "It's the first in a series of steps toward a better economic future for all of us here across the region. The economic rebound that (Evans) is talking about is an opportunity for us, and it's important that we make the most of it. Today is a great first step. "

Conference attendees participated in a series of workshops designed to identify challenges facing the region -- the need for work force development and better coordination across county lines were the chief complaints -- and heard presentations from state business leaders, including Alabama Development Office director Neal Wade.

Bonner said a series of recommendations taken from the conference will be made available at 9 a.m. Friday on the Web site of the Washington, D.C.-based Public Forum Institute, the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that facilitated the conference, at www.publicforuminstitute.org. 

Also Monday, Evans presented an award of achievement to the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce for its work creating international trade opportunities for companies across the state and region.

Evans gave certificates of "export achievement" to the Mobile-based rug and carpet manufacturer Masland Carpets Inc.; to AIR Inc., a Fairhope-based aircraft maintenance and repair company, and to Opico Inc., a Mobile-based agricultural technology firm. 

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