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The December 14, 2009, announcement that Smurfit-Stone will close its Frenchtown mill will have significant impacts on the Missoula and statewide economies. But it still is too early to come up with precise estimates. The exact details of the closure and the severance packages will affect the economywide impacts. For now, the best we can do is to identify how this closure will affect the broader economies and perhaps provide some rough numbers about the important magnitude.
The Smurfit Stone facility employed about 41 7 full-time workers with about $45 million in payroll and benefits. In the late 1980s, peak employment at the mill was about 730 workers.
During 2008, the average job at Smurfit-Stone paid more than $70,000 in annual wages and salaries. This compares with the typical wage and salary position in Missoula of $26,000. The high average wage for the mill...