Rapid City/Black Hills Jobs (Rapid Valley, Lead: foreclosures, rental, homeowners insurance)

[BusySocialWorker]

YES - lots of reatail jobs - many new shopping areas opening and looking for workers - the paper is full of adds!

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by BusySocialWorker

YES - lots of reatail jobs - many new shopping areas opening and looking for workers - the paper is full of adds!

Busy, that is such great news!! Many years ago we would've loved to live in the Hills, but the unemployment rate was so high. It's such a beautiful area, but we needed to work.

Do you have any idea what the starting wages are or if benies are offered? Over here the starting wages are in the area of 7.50 and the ones who offer benies start at day one of employment. Does that sound similar?

[DannyBanany]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Do you have any idea what the starting wages are or if benies are offered? Over here the starting wages are in the area of 7.50 and the ones who offer benies start at day one of employment. Does that sound similar?

That's pretty much the same case over here. Minimum wage in South Dakota was recently raised to $6.55 per hour, which is very competitive with neighboring states. Most jobs out here start out around the $7.50-$8.50 range. Busy's right, there are A LOT of new retail jobs available in Rapid City. Every store out at Rushmore Crossing has "NOW HIRING" signs on them. I went to Pier 1 and Kohl's yesterday and they both were hiring as well. I hear Lowe's is a great place to work too. You start at $9.00 per hour and you get benefits from day one. I even have a buddy that just started at Wal Mart and he makes $9.50 per hour and gets dental.

[Jammie]

Lowe's is supposed to be an excellent place for semi-retired people to work. My husband would probably love working in a place like that when he leaves his current job. They are high on the list for treating their employees well and not discriminating against the more "ahem~mature" members of society.

[blackhillsdreams]

In theory, $9.50 per hour sounds good, but it's $380 a week and closer to $310 after taxes and any benefits you pay for. There is no way to pay rent (god forbid you have a mortgage, even worse, kids to feed and clothe...), buy food, gas, clothes, etc., and survive on that alone. You'd have to have at least 2 people earning that at a minimum to barely get by no? How do people live on that and actually save for or purchase a home? I don't understand it.

Here in Florida, Kohl's is building several new stores in the central Fl area, it made the news as a big provider of jobs. Yep, they announced it triumphantly on the news as if the economy was saved. Most of these jobs will be part time at best and start around $7.50 an hour. I don't know what the answer is,but $7 to $10 an hour jobs won't support a family and provide incomes for cars, houses, (even at the low end), and anything above barely getting by.

My point/question is: go to the rapid city journal online page and look to the lower right of the page where they have a few houses posted for sale. As I look at them, they average above $200,000 and occasionally, there are some in the $155,000 range. Two people working hard and saving maybe $25,000 for a down payment (over a period of years), might expect to finance $138,000 or so with closing costs. They might expect to pay around $1300 per month for the mortgage, then another $300 with taxes and insurance, so $1600, then utilities:electric, cable,water, trash, gas for a car, at least $500 more. That leaves a total of $400 left over at best for groceries, etc... If your transmission goes out or you need tires suddenly, you're toast. I don't think this is a workable formula in the long run. Either wages have to go up, or prices have to continue to come down... Wages going up, cause prices to go up.

I'm sorry to seem so negative, I lost my job over two months ago, am losing my house in a short sale, and am stressed to the max. I just got another job (starting in a couple weeks), took a pay cut, have to put in a LOT more hours, and rented a place hoping to start over again.

[wantoutoftexas]

Black hills, I hear you loud and clear, that is one reason why it has taken me so long to try and move to the SD area, because I have all those bills you are talking about, and here in Dallas, my wife and I both make decent money, about 50k ea, and even though we want to move, it makes it hard when you have bills and are looking at taking a pay cut. but we are still trying and hoepfully we can get up there next year, at least thats the plan.

[blackhillsdreams]

Originally Posted by wantoutoftexas

Black hills, I hear you loud and clear, that is one reason why it has taken me so long to try and move to the SD area, because I have all those bills you are talking about, and here in Dallas, my wife and I both make decent money, about 50k ea, and even though we want to move, it makes it hard when you have bills and are looking at taking a pay cut. but we are still trying and hoepfully we can get up there next year, at least thats the plan.

I understand completely. I will live in the black hills someday, one way or another. I'm working on it as a long term goal now more than ever, could be a year, could be ten years, time will tell. Good luck to you!

[Jammie]

BH, Congratulations on the new job! I've wondered where you have been.

I'm sorry to hear that you won't be able to keep your house. It's unfortunate, but you'll be fine renting a house or living in an apartment. It all seems to work out in the end, but I understand your frustration.

The housing in my area is about half what it is in the Hills so I really don't have an answer for you. My guess is that people make do and rent one of the older, less expensive apartments and mobile homes are always an option.

I believe that most of the families around here are at least a two wage household. Nearly every couple that I know both work and often at least one of them also has another part time job. It's tough to make ends meet. I think it always was and it's only that the numbers have increased so it looks scarier.

[DannyBanany]

BH I'm sorry to hear that you can't keep your house. I understand that it can be difficult in our struggling economy. I just don't see how people can make a living anymore. Jammie's right, housing in the Black Hills is probably double that of anywhere else in South Dakota but boy do you get a great quality of life out here!

It's funny, I'm trying to get out of South Dakota and everyone else is trying to get in!

[blackhillsdreams]

Hey there Jammie and Danny! Thanks for the well wishes, it will all work out for the best. I have the best wife in the world!

Jammie, I understand what you're saying about mobile homes and apartments and I agree those are options. My point was really aimed at the "American Dream" that seems to have been killed off. Almost every "Kaski" home built in the Rapid area is $250,000 and up. How in the world can people be paying for those and how can Kaski expect that to continue? it's a mess. Trust me, I'd be happy to live in a decent mobile in the hills just to be there. That wouldn't solve all of my problems at the moment though. Then there is the fact that 99% of the available land for sale prohibits them altogether...

I'll get there sooner or later. Thanks for saying hi!