Hundreds og jobs coming to Bristol, Tn. (Knoxville, Lebanon: insurance, mortgages)

[MetropolitanTN]

Originally Posted by jchometeam

I cant believe the consistent complaining about jobs since they arent high paying. Every employer that comes here, people fuss that it isnt $30/hour. Bottom line, they are jobs and will decrease the unemployment rate, dependancy on government, and strain on charities. Just as importantly, they give young people jobs which would otherwise sit at home or get into trouble.

You took the words out of my mouth. These are better than retail or food service. $10-11 a hour in the Tri-Cities is a doable wage.

[370z]

Originally Posted by utvols21

I agree since when is a $10 an hr job BAD news. That swhats wrong with people these days they expect everything to be handed to them and most its not worth getting paid $10 an hr when they are getting $900 a month in food stamps section 8 paid rent and other assistance so in a way its hard to blame them but in another way im tired of keeping them up. Sorry im off my soap box now! But to add i think this is great for our area who cares if its call center work its not a bad job you sit at a desk and answer incoming calls. Hope it does well!!

[370z]

IMO it all depends on how you live & how willing you are to work. We came back to So CA 5 years ago.big mistake, but anyway we were on our way to TN from NV & my brother was sick here in CA so we changed our plans! Anyway, I haven't been able to find any work, but my husband will do about anything. He started working at Labor Ready 4 years ago at $8.00 an hour, he is such a good employee that he got hired on with a company and now makes $15.00. He aren't living high, but we are doing ok. And we are in CA making it on $15.00 an hour. It can be done. Sometimes you just do what you've got to do at the time. We know it will get better!! If all goes as planned we hope to move to your area next year.

[Ridgerunner]

Those of you who did not live here 10-12 years ago would be appalled to know how many thousands of manufacturing jobs have left the area since then. Earlier this year the owner of a Johnson City employment agency told me the region's top employer in terms of jobs provided is Food City, followed by MSHA and Eastman.

[370z]

Originally Posted by Ridgerunner

Those of you who did not live here 10-12 years ago would be appalled to know how many thousands of manufacturing jobs have left the area since then. Earlier this year the owner of a Johnson City employment agency told me the region's top employer in terms of jobs provided is Food City, followed by MSHA and Eastman.

Why did they leave?

[Ridgerunner]

Originally Posted by 370z

Why did they leave?

For a variety of reasons. My 45K job went to Mexico.

[BadJuju]

Originally Posted by Ridgerunner

Those of you who did not live here 10-12 years ago would be appalled to know how many thousands of manufacturing jobs have left the area since then. Earlier this year the owner of a Johnson City employment agency told me the region's top employer in terms of jobs provided is Food City, followed by MSHA and Eastman.

Compared to 20 years ago, the Kingsport-Bristol MSA has about 16,000 less manufacturing jobs than before.

[370z]

Originally Posted by ridgerunner

for a variety of reasons. My 45k job went to mexico.

very sad!!

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by 370z

Why did they leave?

The same reason manufacturing left other cities - the jobs were easily offshored to developing countries or outsourced to temp agencies that are W2/1099 and no benefits. Most of the lost jobs are low to medium skill and these are the easiest types to pay a Chinese or Indian citizen $10/day to perform.

When you get right down to it, the Tri-Cities are really nothing more than a Rust Belt city located south of the Mason-Dixon. The area was severely dependent on manufacturing, and in hindsight, much to its detriment. I just now starting thinking of the seven households on my grandparents' block...five of those men were employed at Eastman, one was a cop, and the other I'm not sure about. Each of those men made enough to pay for a modest house, own a car or two, and take a vacation to Myrtle Beach every year.

My father, and the fathers of many other people in my elementary and middle school classes (I'm 26) also worked at the local factories. We were all solidly middle class at the time. By the time I was a legal adult, many of our fathers had lost their jobs, experienced salary freezes, or both. This was before the recession. My father was fine until the recession then got laid off. His salary declined by 30% or so. I don't think he'll ever make that back up short of relocating.

Today's local kindergartners are much more likely to have a dad working at a call center and a mom at a nursing home. Those children aren't going to have the opportunities that my grandfather, my father, and myself had. Their standard of living has been stunted from the get-go and this is going to make it harder for them to succeed down the road. For the first time in my still relatively young life, I'd say the current generation of children is going to have it worse than any generation that I can remember before them, going back to the Greatest Generation.

This is the story of today's America - the Tri-Cities is hardly unique in its problems. Local governments have failed to address these problems in any substantive way, preferring to defer, deflect, or disregard important social issues. The local governments of the Tri-Cities are failing to spend the citizens' money wisely and keep chasing pipe dreams, wrong roads, or any number of stupid exercises.

Whomever said the area is losing a lot of young talent is exactly correct. Out of the dozen to twenty contacts I keep up with from my economics graduating class in 2010, only one I know of got a job relating to his academic education in this area - he was also the president of the economics club. Almost all of the others took a job outside of their field or below their level of education, relocated, or went to graduate school. None of those people are contributing to the Tri-Cities economy at the optimal level, although most of us were its native sons.

I graduated high school with about 300 people in 2004, and while I don't keep up with everyone, I simply can't think of a single, college-educated person who isn't in education or medical and is making over $40k here. Those who are doing better than $40k are medical people or teachers or left east TN. East TN has no use for young professionals. It disappoints me greatly that the area's job market has virtually given my peers and me the middle finger when we are getting interviews and offers relatively easily elsewhere.

[daveatgso]

Originally Posted by BP72

Still hoping Siemens Plant comes though in JC.

What type of plant is this potentially going to be?