Lisa Simpson
Oct 20,2009
In: Finance

The Gloomy Economy is Affecting the Amish too

The gloomy economy has spared none and is now affecting the Amish too. The general picture we have of the community is that of the Amish being farmers having huge draft horses pulling their ploughs. They are characterized by their rejection of outside influences. But although Freeman Wingard is an Amish he is slightly different – having left a different kind of life during the last decade. Wingard went to restaurants with his family each week, journeyed to Chicago and holidayed in Florida. At that time his earnings counted to $40 per hour employed in a vehicle factory in Northern Indiana. But when the factory sales began to slow down like Wingard many of his Amish colleagues lost their high salaried jobs. This is sending them back to their roots.

Wingard’s family consists of his wife and five daughters – the eldest being 13 years old. They have now started selling jams, jellies and other home-made crafted items like quilts from their traditional farm. It means hard work. Wingard arises before dawn and by noon has 300 jelly jars ready. Despite this labour the income is nowhere near to what it used to be before. But Wingard always sees the bright side of things. He said that although the work is hard, it is flexible and he has time to be with his daughters.
The adverse economy is telling on 400 Amish communities. The worst hit has been the third largest Amish settlement located in Northern Indiana. Professor Steven Nolt who has authored articles on the Amish in Northern Indiana said, “Nowhere in U.S. Amish history has a down economy affected the Amish so much. It’s a pivotal time for them.”

Northern Indiana is home to about 20.000 Amish. Nearly half of them used to earn outside the farm. Professor Donald Kraybill of Elizabethtown College, Pennsylvania, has extensively researched on the lives of the Amish in USA. He said, “Most Amish people who are not receiving their income from farming tend to work for Amish-owned businesses. They typically don’t work in large droves for a single industry, like in Northern Indiana.”
In contrast the largest Amish community comprising of 40,000 in Holmes and four other adjacent counties in East Central Ohio have not been as hard hit as their brothers in Indiana said Paul Miller of Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center in Berlin, Ohio. The second largest Amish settlement is in Pennsylvania.

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