Couple of things
- Ha! This is in 'response' to my letter to the editor. Well-played Tom Montgomery ... well-played indeed.
- I don't necessarily think the things Jeffrey Moss lists in his letter as 'offensive' are actually either happening or could be considered 'offensive.' For instance, I don't think undocumented workers are 'offended' by employers asking for proof of citizenship. Rather I think they're, you know, honestly scared about being deported.
- A nice piece on fundraising at the ole musee, so kudos to you Ms. Quigley.
- Hillary and I had a nice chat yesterday regarding Chris Hassiotis's letter to the editor regarding the 'sunny' economic outlook in Athens-Clarke County. We disagreed, but not really. That is to say that we both agree that we need to create jobs that offer higher-paying and competitive wages in this community, but I'm not so quick to say the creation of lower-paying wage jobs is that bad. I suppose my point is two-fold - 1. That some folks have the opportunity to gain some type of income, however small it may be and 2. The expansion of the service industry, which typically offers these lower-wages, to me at least, seems to be one step in a series of steps toward attracting those higher-paying wage jobs. Of course, the other reason we see things like the service industry expand rather than, say, the biomedical field or the manufacturing field, is because we do have a large portion of the population living in poverty that don't have the necessary skills to match those jobs. Getting them the necessary training is another step in this process.
- I don't necessarily think the things Jeffrey Moss lists in his letter as 'offensive' are actually either happening or could be considered 'offensive.' For instance, I don't think undocumented workers are 'offended' by employers asking for proof of citizenship. Rather I think they're, you know, honestly scared about being deported.
- A nice piece on fundraising at the ole musee, so kudos to you Ms. Quigley.
- Hillary and I had a nice chat yesterday regarding Chris Hassiotis's letter to the editor regarding the 'sunny' economic outlook in Athens-Clarke County. We disagreed, but not really. That is to say that we both agree that we need to create jobs that offer higher-paying and competitive wages in this community, but I'm not so quick to say the creation of lower-paying wage jobs is that bad. I suppose my point is two-fold - 1. That some folks have the opportunity to gain some type of income, however small it may be and 2. The expansion of the service industry, which typically offers these lower-wages, to me at least, seems to be one step in a series of steps toward attracting those higher-paying wage jobs. Of course, the other reason we see things like the service industry expand rather than, say, the biomedical field or the manufacturing field, is because we do have a large portion of the population living in poverty that don't have the necessary skills to match those jobs. Getting them the necessary training is another step in this process.
posted by Jmac at 7:31 AM
5 Comments:
And my point (and Chris's, I believe) was that, while you're correct that those service jobs are necessary and not a bad first step, Pollyanna journalism that says everything's hunky-dory and fails to distinguish among kinds of jobs created (as far as how rosy the economic picture of the area really is) is ridiculous and a waste of space in the newspaper.
What is the point of headlines that basically say "Everything Awesome"? Especially when it's not.
So would you have gone with something like, say, 'Everything Almost Awesome' ... because if we concede the growth of our service industry is a necessary step in the long-term economic development of our community, then there's reason for some positive coverage of that I would think.
I don't think it needs to be positive or negative.
It can say: Athens Service-Industry Jobs Expected to Increase in 07.
That would still be accurate without sounding as though it's coming from the perspective of Richie Rich.
Not that this was implied by your post, but I think it's important that we don't rule out biomedical jobs for lower income Athenians. You don't have to have a doctorate to work at the vaccine plant. For every advanced degree job at the vaccine plant, the plant needs 12 jobs that can be done by someone with a two year degree. If Athens can take kids out of high school, put them at Athens Tech for two years and make $50k, there are a lot of people who would do that. It's important to make sure that we do have funding for Athens Tech so we can home grow these jobs.
Exactly. I think Athens Tech can provide a lot in terms in helping give the necessary skills to folks and help them work their way up the economic ladder.
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