WARN Act mass layoff and plant closure notices in Albertville, Alabama, updated daily.
| Company | City | Employees | Notice Date | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Parallel Forest Products Corp | Albertville | 62 | 2026-02-12 | Closure |
| Berry Plastics Company - Covalence Specialty Adhes | Albertville | 93 | 2010-07-23 | Closure |
| Berry Plastics Company – Covalence Specialty Adhes | Albertville | 93 | 2010-07-23 | Closure |
| Abitibibowater, Inc | Albertville | 86 | 2009-09-18 | Closure |
| Berry Plastics Corp.. Covalence Specialty Adhesives | Albertville | 96 | 2008-11-19 | Layoff |
| Arrow Shirt | Albertville | 295 | 2000-05-10 | Closure |
# Economic Analysis: Layoffs in Albertville, Alabama
Albertville, Alabama has experienced significant workforce disruptions across a concentrated period, with six WARN notices affecting 725 workers since 2000. While this represents a relatively modest total compared to larger Alabama industrial centers, the concentrated nature of these layoffs—particularly the dominance of single large displacement events—reveals a community facing episodic but severe economic shocks rather than sustained, broad-based decline.
The 725 workers affected by WARN-reportable layoffs represents a substantial portion of Albertville's working population, particularly given the city's size. Marshall County, where Albertville serves as the county seat, has a population of approximately 93,000, making these layoffs economically significant at the local level. The data spans over two decades, indicating that workforce disruptions in Albertville are not a recent phenomenon but rather a recurring challenge that the community has navigated across multiple economic cycles.
The layoff landscape in Albertville is dramatically shaped by a handful of major manufacturers whose operational decisions have reverberated throughout the local economy. Arrow Shirt stands alone as the single largest employer to file a WARN notice in the city, with one notification affecting 295 workers. This represents 40.7 percent of all workers impacted by WARN notices in Albertville since 2000—a staggering concentration of employment vulnerability in a single company.
The apparel manufacturing sector's struggles are evident in this displacement. Arrow Shirt's layoff reflects the broader crisis that has devastated American garment production over the past two decades. The apparel industry has experienced structural decline due to offshore manufacturing competition, particularly from lower-wage countries, and automation. For a mid-sized city like Albertville, the loss of 295 garment workers represented a severe blow to the local tax base and employment opportunities, particularly for workers without specialized technical credentials.
The Berry Plastics operations, appearing in the WARN records as "Berry Plastics Corp.. Covalence Specialty Adhesives" and its variants, collectively affected 282 workers across three separate notice filings (96, 93, and 93 workers respectively). The duplication or near-duplication in company names and worker counts suggests either data quality issues in the original WARN filings or multiple notifications for overlapping workforce reductions at the same facility. Regardless, these notices indicate that the Covalence Specialty Adhesives division—a specialty chemicals manufacturer—has been a volatile employer in Albertville, with workforce reductions occurring at different points in the economic cycle.
AbitibiBowater, Inc., a major forest products company, affected 86 workers with a single WARN notice, reflecting the cyclicality of the paper and forest products industry. Southern Parallel Forest Products Corp displaced 62 workers in a separate notice. These two forest products companies collectively account for 148 workers, or 20.4 percent of all WARN-notice displacement in Albertville, underscoring the importance of natural resource-based manufacturing to the regional economy.
Manufacturing dominates Albertville's layoff pattern, with three WARN notices affecting 282 workers explicitly classified in that sector. However, the actual manufacturing impact is considerably higher when accounting for companies whose industry classification may be ambiguous in the database. Arrow Shirt, Berry Plastics, AbitibiBowater, and Southern Parallel Forest Products are all unambiguously manufacturing operations, suggesting that at least 525 workers—or 72.4 percent of all WARN-notice displacement—originates from manufacturing sector employers.
This concentration reflects Albertville's historical position as a manufacturing-dependent community. The city developed as an industrial center around textiles, apparel, forest products, and chemicals—all sectors that have faced intense competitive pressure from globalization, automation, and capital flight to lower-wage regions. The data reveals that Albertville has not diversified its economic base sufficiently to absorb the employment losses from manufacturing contraction.
The specific industries affected are particularly vulnerable to structural decline. Apparel manufacturing has migrated nearly entirely offshore from the United States, with only highly specialized or time-sensitive production remaining domestically. Forest products manufacturing faces long-term headwinds from both reduced demand for paper products and improved harvesting and processing efficiency. Specialty adhesives and chemicals manufacturing, while more stable than apparel, remains subject to facility consolidation and automation.
The temporal distribution of WARN notices in Albertville reveals a pattern of clustering during and immediately following economic recessions. A single notice occurred in 2000, potentially related to the dot-com recession and its indirect effects on manufacturing. The 2008-2010 period saw four WARN notices (one in 2008, one in 2009, and two in 2010), concentrated during the Great Recession and its aftermath—a period of severe disruption across American manufacturing. This clustering suggests that Albertville's manufacturers are particularly vulnerable to economic downturns and that the local economy lacks sufficient resilience to maintain stable employment during recessions.
The solitary 2026 notice represents a future-dated filing, indicating a pending workforce reduction that has not yet occurred. This forward-looking data point suggests that Albertville faces continued employment challenges in the near term. Without additional context on which employer filed this notice, it is impossible to assess whether this represents a sector-specific problem or a broader economic headwind.
The gaps between notice filings—no WARN notices between 2010 and 2026—might initially suggest economic stabilization. However, this apparent stability may reflect either genuine recovery in Albertville's manufacturing base or simply the absence of major layoff announcements rather than sustained job growth. Without complementary data on new hiring, business formation, or wage trends, it is difficult to characterize the intervening years as economically healthy.
The displacement of 725 workers across Albertville's economy creates cascading effects that extend well beyond the directly affected workers. In a community with limited economic diversification, the loss of manufacturing employment constrains consumer spending, reduces tax revenues for local government, and creates downward pressure on wages in competing industries as displaced workers seek alternative employment.
The concentration of displacement events in manufacturing occupations means that many affected workers face substantial retraining needs to transition into service-sector positions or other industries. Manufacturing workers in mid-career often possess specialized skills that do not transfer easily to retail, hospitality, or administrative work—positions that typically offer lower wages and fewer benefits than manufacturing jobs. This skills mismatch creates long-term earning losses for affected workers and can drive out-migration of younger workers seeking better opportunities elsewhere.
The loss of 295 garment workers from Arrow Shirt alone would have depressed Albertville's economic activity substantially. A manufacturing job paying $35,000 annually generates local economic activity of roughly $52,500 when accounting for indirect spending, multiplier effects, and tax payments. The loss of 295 such jobs represents the elimination of approximately $15.5 million in annual local economic activity—a significant shock for a city of Albertville's size.
Albertville's experience with manufacturing job losses reflects broader patterns across Alabama, a state that remains heavily dependent on manufacturing employment compared to the national average. While the United States has shifted toward service-sector employment, Alabama's economy continues to emphasize advanced manufacturing, automotive production, and chemical manufacturing—sectors that are undergoing technological transformation and geographic consolidation.
However, Albertville's situation differs meaningfully from Alabama's manufacturing hubs like Birmingham, Huntsville, or the automotive corridor in Montgomery County. The presence of advanced manufacturing, aerospace, and defense sectors in larger Alabama metros provides economic diversification that Albertville lacks. Albertville's manufacturing base appears rooted primarily in commodity-oriented sectors—textiles, apparel, forest products—that have faced the most intense competition from globalization and automation.
The state's efforts to attract advanced manufacturing and technology-sector investment have disproportionately benefited urban areas with existing research institutions and infrastructure advantages. Albertville, as a smaller regional center in Marshall County, has received limited attention from state economic development initiatives focused on high-value manufacturing and emerging industries. This regional disparity in economic development investment contributes to Albertville's vulnerability to cyclical employment disruptions in traditional manufacturing sectors.
Albertville faces continued vulnerability to manufacturing employment losses without substantial economic diversification efforts. The concentration of job losses during recessions indicates that local employers lack pricing power and customer loyalty sufficient to weather economic downturns—characteristics typical of commodity-oriented manufacturers facing intense competition.
The future viability of Albertville's economy depends on developing employment in sectors less vulnerable to global competition and automation. Healthcare, professional services, technology, and advanced manufacturing with high skill requirements offer more stable employment foundations. However, transitioning a manufacturing-dependent workforce toward these sectors requires sustained investment in education, workforce development, and business attraction initiatives that extend beyond individual employer decisions.
The 2026 WARN notice serves as a warning indicator that Albertville's employment challenges remain unresolved. Without evidence of substantial new business formation, workforce upgrading, or diversification, the pattern of episodic manufacturing layoffs is likely to continue shaping Albertville's economic trajectory for the foreseeable future.
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