Marvin Koechner has been melting metal for more than 20 years.

"I don't know what I would do if I didn't have here to go to," Koechner said. 

The 2009 Missouri Manufacturer's register shows jobs like Koechner's may be in trouble. Three percent of Missouri's manufacturing workforce lost their jobs last year.

"I'd have to go elsewhere to look and I don't know where elsewhere is," says Koechner.

While three percent of Missouri manufacturers lost their jobs last year, 7.5 percent of metal workers lost theirs. Koechner welds turkey coops for the family business. So far, Mark Koechner, president of his manufacturing company, says business is holding steady, but he can't say what's on the horizon and he always has layoffs on his mind.

"I don't like to be a negative person, I try to think positive, but I'm always thinking, 'ok, I know things are going to change," Koechner said. "I know we're going to have to make changes."

For now, the 11 employees at Koechner's manufacturing company are waiting out the economic downturn.

To put this in perspective, Missouri lost more than 12,000 manufacturing jobs last year -- a number more than six times the entire population of Tipton.