Housing Slump Affecting Dalton Industry

The national housing market slump affects more than home buyers and sellers.
Last month, Dalton reported about a 70% increase in jobless filings -- mostly from the carpet industry.
The mills in the carpet capital of the world may not be humming like they once were.

Werner Braun, President Carpet and Rug Institute  "When the new housing starts to go down, well, it's pretty obvious that all those carpet sales are lost."

Translating into temporary unemployment for workers in Dalton.

George Woodward, Pres. Chamber of Commerce:  "In the last month or so, we've seen some layoffs, maybe two weeks off and then come back to work so those kinds of trends will continue."

Braun explains the carpet industry is used to riding the economy's ups and downs.

Braun:  "Now this one is kind of unique in that the economy in general is cranking along pretty well, but the impact of the housing bubble is having the same effect as a more broadly felt economic downturn."

And that downturn could have a ripple effect on manufacturing cities like Dalton.

Woodward:  "If people are not working as many hours then they're not able to go out to restaurants and eat as much or they may have to put off a major purchase of some kind so it's certainly going to have an impact on the community."

Pinching the pocketbooks of more than just those directly effected by the housing market slump.
Woodward says carpet manufacturers hope they can pull out of the decline in production as early as next year.