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Much of the textile mill industry is located in small towns, largely in the southeast, where there are no other sources of employment. We call them one-company towns.
There are important segments of the apparel industry located in the major metropolitan areas, such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc., where we are confronted with major problems of the urban ghetto.
In a number of other areas, largely Appalachia, there are important concentration of the apparel industry. These are areas where. substantial and persistent unemployment already exist. For example, there are towns such as these in Western Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. About 40 percent of manufacturing employment in the Wilkes- Barre and Scranton areas of Pennsylvania are in these industries. There are many more examples of the high concentration of employment in textiles and apparel in southern states, depressed areas, and urban centers.
Employment in textile and apparel has not kept pace with the increases in employment throughout the United States. This is true even though technological improvement, such as permanent press, has required more workers.
The level of skills, the amount of training, etc., make the textile and apparel industries à prime source of employment for the disadvantaged in our society. A decline in these industries will hit directly at those we are most concerned about helping in our labor force. Because of the location of the industry---in part in one-company towns, and in part in urban centers where we have poverty problems--our ability to move workers to other areas is severely limited. All these factors, in short, are compelling reasons why we must avoid any loss in employment opportunities in these industries.
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