Despite all the losses, unemployment rates locally, at the state level and nationally remain around 5 percent — a jobless rate that economists say indicates full employment since there are always some workers in transition.

Crawford County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in December while Pennsylva-nia’s rate was 4.7 percent and it was 5.0 percent for the nation.

Scott Hanaway, president of Tech Tool & Molded Plastics, another Meadville tooling firm, and a past president of the NTMA, said there is business for area tooling firms, but it depends on whom their customers are.

“There is opportunity out there,” he said. “Aerospace, agricultural equipment and oil field services are doing well.”

Despite an expected slowdown in the economy this year, Frampton and Hanaway still see growth in manufacturing.

That’s because some of the tooling and machining firms’ customers that sent work overseas to China and other countries are returning that work to U.S. firms.

“They realize they’re not getting the delivery times or quality of work they want,” said Frampton. “We’ve seen some customers go over(seas) and come back two or three times.”

“I think we’ll see 2 percent growth,” he added. “It’s not as robust as it had been, but there still will be growth (in 2008).”

Hanaway expects to see growth around 5 percent overall in the industry and between 5 percent and 10 percent for his firm because of his diversified customer base.

Brian Deane, president of NuTec Tooling Systems of Meadville, a maker of automated equipment for larger manufacturers, expects to see continued growth of up to 5 percent this year.

However, he does worry about the possibility of a recession “but only because we’ll talk ourselves into it.”

“There is a lot of negative press (nationally) about a recession,” he said. “If we start to buy into it, it can happen.”

There also will be opportunity for new workers in the industry in the next decade.

“In the next 10 years we expect a lot of people (in the tooling industry) to retire,” said Frampton.

At his own company, about 60 percent of its management staff will retire within the next decade, he noted.