Dayton, OH = happiest city to work? (Columbus, Beavercreek: fit in, best city, 2013)

[Zen_master]

With several companies formerly headquartered in Dayton either packing up and moving elsewhere or simply packing it up for good (NCR, Mead) I must say I was a little surprised by the results of this survey:

The happiest and unhappiest cities for workers - Yahoo! Homes

The Happiest And Unhappiest Cities To Work In Right Now - Forbes

[Dayton Sux]

Yes, I think there were quite a few raised eyebrows when this came out.

[hensleya1]

Originally Posted by Zen_master

With several companies formerly headquartered in Dayton either packing up and moving elsewhere or simply packing it up for good (NCR, Mead)

Hi Zen_master--

It doesn't really surprise me. Consider the biggest employers in the area: WPAFB, WD, WSU, any local school district, and Premier Health.

Fed, med, ed. All government jobs or effectively government controlled. You have to make twice as much in the private sector just to break even against today's government jobs (both federal and local - consider pension, health insurance, paid time off, etc.).

So, considering the huge proportion of government jobs in town, is it surprising they're happy? I'd roll from here clear out to Columbus in a truck tire for one of those government jobs.

[TomJones123]

Maybe it's the happiest place to work, providing you are fortunate to find a job.

[Ohioan58]

A friend and I speculated about this survey and this is what we came up with:

Employment in the Dayton region is tilted strongly toward institutional employers - MVH, WPAFB, Wright State and the other universities, Lexis-Nexis.

Those who do not fit the parameters of these jobs and positions wind up on the slag heap, at s***ty small abusive companies and/or unemployed. Even accomplished, educated people with degrees. Dayton is a terrible place to move into as an engineer. Most of the companies I have worked with or know of locally practically put a stopwatch on how much a software engineer "does" per hour.

High unemployment rate, but quality jobs for the relatively few who are good enough/make the cut/have what it takes/are "winners."

Good employment around Dayton means either knowing someone. Or having the all important DoD security clearance that your new employer wants to *steal* (as in take at little cost) from your current DoD employer.

Oh, did I mention that if you don't have a current security clearance, the walled fortress of DoD work that is so abundant in the Dayton region is OFF LIMITS to you? There are too many geeks around here fighting for too few jobs.

The "winners" around here don't have to deal with the "losers" or experience what they do.

So... a really, really stupid survey that does not deal with the reality on the ground.

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

Hi Zen_master--

It doesn't really surprise me. Consider the biggest employers in the area: WPAFB, WD, WSU, any local school district, and Premier Health.

Fed, med, ed. All government jobs or effectively government controlled. You have to make twice as much in the private sector just to break even against today's government jobs (both federal and local - consider pension, health insurance, paid time off, etc.).

So, considering the huge proportion of government jobs in town, is it surprising they're happy? I'd roll from here clear out to Columbus in a truck tire for one of those government jobs.

Apply. You might land one.

[Zen_master]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

Hi Zen_master--

It doesn't really surprise me. Consider the biggest employers in the area: WPAFB, WD, WSU, any local school district, and Premier Health.

Fed, med, ed. All government jobs or effectively government controlled. You have to make twice as much in the private sector just to break even against today's government jobs (both federal and local - consider pension, health insurance, paid time off, etc.).

So, considering the huge proportion of government jobs in town, is it surprising they're happy? I'd roll from here clear out to Columbus in a truck tire for one of those government jobs.

Good points. +1.

Guess my surprise was with the fact that at first glance I would think a metropolis that is highly rated in the places-to-work category would have an abundance of jobs and a growing workforce - certainly one outpacing the job growth of the nation. Dayton doesn't seem to fit this description but you bring up valid points that I hadn't considered.

You're quite right that many in the private sector would sell their grandmother down the river for a cushy government, union gig. Take a look at the salary and benefit info contained in the following link. Quite staggering really that the "public servants" are the ones being served by the taxpayers these days.

Buckeye Institute - About Us

[Dayton Sux]

The "winners" around here don't have to deal with the "losers" or experience what they do.

I think that Beavercreek bus controvesy explains all that. Beavercreek isnt a suburb of Dayton, rather its a suburb of Wright-Patterson. Part of "The Fortress"

You're quite right that many in the private sector would sell their grandmother down the river for a cushy government, union gig.

Buckeye is a conservative think tank with a political axe to grind, but more middle-of-the-road or even left-leaning think tanks have made the same observation about Ohio.

Brookings released a study recently that compared the tax burden of local governemnt...Ohio ranked 10th in the nation. This money goes mostly to pay & benefits. In the case of the Dayton area there are, in addition to the big defense workforce (military/civilian/contractor) there is a big local government workforce...mostly in education (local public schools) and public safety and public works.

Thus a relatively high local tax structure (mostly property and city income tax + fee & permit revenue and whatnot) supports an army of local government staff of various types.

@@@

But i think this isnt going to continue due to the inability of the local economy to support the cost of local government, and the Feds are going to be retrenching due to the deficity/debt issue.

The big employment sector beyond governmnt in Dayton is Medical (actually the largest share of employment in the Dayton area is in the health care fields), and it is a growth sector, or has been for the past 20 years.

So that maybe be the new career path as the Feds and Locals downsize... bureaucrats to bedpans. Or blackboards to bedpans.

[Lucy Striker]

Hello,

I find it shocking that people complain about there being no jobs in Dayton. I've lived in east coast cities (Boston and New York) the vast majority of my life, and job hunting in NYC is truly brutal. Almost everyone I knew, myself included, spent a good portion of their lives working several part-time jobs—and these are folks with postgraduate degrees. I lost my full-time job in NYC while hospitalized during the winter of 2010, and literally could not find another full-time job EVER again, despite 10+ years of experience in my industry and graduating summa *** laude from my MA program. I cobbled together part-time work, and paid through the nose for everything. When I moved to Dayton just before Thanksgiving, I thought I would be seriously screwed for the whole winter. I started working in the industry (mental health) I'd been trying to break into in NYC for two years at the end of January. My rent for my HOUSE downtown is LESS than what my ROOM cost in a dump in Brooklyn, and in a decent area in Boston. It took serious searching, resume clean up, and so forth, but once I figured out how things more or less worked here, I had calls for three interviews in the same week.

I think employment depends on the sector of industry, and medical and technical area quite good. What's more, you can actually have a decent life:work ratio, economically and time-wise. It's not the best city ever, but I like it a lot more than I had ever expected. My neighbors are friendly, care about the city and neighborhood, and it wasn't hard to get plugged into community initiatives. I quickly realized the city was going to be what I made of it, and sought out opportunities right away—and found them.

Sincerely,
L

[Natural510]

Great post, Lucy. I'm sure things are more bleak for people who've lived here their whole lives, but for those of us accustomed to long commutes, working two jobs and still seriously in debt, etc while living in one of the nation's "elite" metros, the grass is not always greener.
Still, you're in health care (as am I), and other than Wright Patt and certain schools, there are few other options sans retail to get by in this town.