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My weekly schedule is Wednesday thru Friday- a 37 hr shift.
Commute: 3 hrs 15 min round trip
Jobs are sparce here. Moreso than expected
Population 200 people.
50% of residents are full time
OF those employed, my estimates are- 25% of the jobs are seasonal tourism related
10% work for the County
Others own Tourism related businesses- cycling shop, resort, B&B's, restaurant, snowmobile shop, stores.
Too many own housekeeping businesses here already so that's a tough market A few do as I do. Commute to the nearest "larger town" staying overnight
This "larger town" we shop & work has a population of about 10,000 people
My wage-$15 per hr.
Stressful job
No cost medical ($500 deductible, $15 visits),
$7 mo dental
4% match
50K Life insurance
40 hrs paid vacation
Sick leave
My Company approved reducing my work hours to a 20 hr shift weekly while keeping benefits. An ok job
Hopefully my 20 hrs weekly plus working seasonally here in town will suffice us.
If you are employed in a small town, how do you get by??
Last edited by ItIsWritten.; 03-30-2018 at 11:44 PM..
When I lived in a small town in WA, the main employers were the state and the forest service - both related to federal or state land management, basically. Then, otherwise, it was pretty much tourist or agriculture jobs, dairy or organic farming niches.
When I left, quite a long time ago, some people were getting into online businesses, selling items they made like boots, etc., with a small staff.
Town of 200 is downright tiny. Why the long commute if you work in a town of 200? So you actually don’t work in the town where you live. OK. I’ll bite. We live 8 miles from a town of 4500. Before I retired from the County we were doing well. Still are. Mrs5150 is an attorney.
Anyone can do fine in small town with the right skill set. My mechanic is doing fine. My plumber is doing fine. My dentist and doctor is doing fine. So is that Safeway employee. I could go on.
Town of 200 is downright tiny. Why the long commute if you work in a town of 200? So you actually don’t work in the town where you live. OK. I’ll bite. We live 8 miles from a town of 4500. Before I retired from the County we were doing well. Still are. Mrs5150 is an attorney.
Anyone can do fine in small town with the right skill set. My mechanic is doing fine. My plumber is doing fine. My dentist and doctor is doing fine. So is that Safeway employee. I could go on.
My husband says it's closer to 125 full timers.100 vacation home owners.
There are no attorneys in this town except our friend who owns a vacation home.
It is doubtful they could survive here unless already retired. Not counting our District Attorney
I have no desire to work for the County. Been there, done that
When I lived in a small town in WA, the main employers were the state and the forest service - both related to federal or state land management, basically. Then, otherwise, it was pretty much tourist or agriculture jobs, dairy or organic farming niches.
When I left, quite a long time ago, some people were getting into online businesses, selling items they made like boots, etc., with a small staff.
Mr5150 said it correctly...."Anyone can do fine in small town with the right skill set" Without a commute, it's tough to survive in small town America without an in demand skill. A commute may still be necessary to survive. We've always lived in small communities, and viewed commuting was a way of life ,one we embraced for the lifestyle trade off. I once commuted 200 miles a day, wife routinely did 100 miles a day, for years....recently she has reduced that to 4 short blocks. Life is all about choices.
Mr5150 said it correctly...."Anyone can do fine in small town with the right skill set" Without a commute, it's tough to survive in small town America without an in demand skill. A commute may still be necessary to survive. We've always lived in small communities, and viewed commuting was a way of life ,one we embraced for the lifestyle trade off. I once commuted 200 miles a day, wife routinely did 100 miles a day, for years....recently she has reduced that to 4 short blocks. Life is all about choices.
Regards
Gemstone1
Yes it is a trade off. Sounds like you and your wife had it worked out
My skill set aligns with working for the County Dept of Health & Human Services. Or Mental health.
I used to do Public Relations and Marketing for our County but am pushing 50 and that job was eliminated anyhow
They want younger people for that line of work.
Those are the only real jobs here for me.
Except the County Benefit Package is low grade vs. my current job working for a Vendor of the State
County-
40 hrs per wk
Health/Medical Free-Employee only
Spousal benefits- Hundreds of dollars to add onto health, Life, AD&D
Worse health plan (1k deductible - emergencies)
Current Job
20 hrs per wk.
Free Benefits -Spouse & I
Health Plan ($500 deductible -emergencies)
50K life insurance
AD&D
Dental ($7 a month for him,employee is free)
Counties wage is much higher but not really. Factoring in increasing income taxes and paying for my husbands benefits, even with working an additional 20 hrs per week, the actual net pay isn't very good. Working 20 more hrs per week= less time to cycle.
My measly $15 per hr offers more disposable income. I'll receive a $3.50 per hr raise in July. They also re-imburse my transportation at .50 cents a mile to drive to work, one way
My husband is a Painting & General Contractor. An in demand skill-set here in this area. He' s still wrapping up jobs from our former area.We made pretty good money in the past when he had a Contract for the local school district. We painted together, with his crew, each summer for 8 weeks. Not fun but it paid well! I enjoyed the exercise. I could paint with my husband again during the Summer time.
This was in 2006, but I worked in Houston, MO at Durham. That company made those big green electrical conduits you see outside companies. I got there just on the tail end of the rebuilding of NO after Katrina. 12 hours a day 7 days a week if you could handle it.
It was summer, I had 2 dogs and myself to feed. I tolerated the summer where outside was 105 and inside was 140 (85 feet from a powder coat burner) and felt bad for the guys at the end who had to deal with 160 degrees. $9 an hour and probably they are going great guns now due to the texas and florida damage....and most likely paying $15
We lived in a tiny community (400) 30 min. from a small tourist town (4,000) that swelled to three times that size in the tourist season. All the jobs except for the few gov't workers and 2 or 3 semi-retired attorneys, were in the tourist biz, so making $9 to $12 an hour. Some vacation homes were off-the-grid so DH made a niche for himself doing solar installations. But it was sporadic work. I had seasonal work in a nearby resort and with the rich tourists, netted $30 an hour. Winters off with unemployment. It was fun and gratifying (though tough physically) until management changed....we all know how that can be.
I am glad we were able to retire away from all that....
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