[crystalblue]

Or, is Florida doomed to always be a low wage state?

Do we have to make a choice between tourism and high wages?

Are we just to remote for Fortune 500 Companies to set up shop?

[annerk]

The best way to bring in good jobs is to offer incentives to large companies with the types of jobs we want to have here.

Give them tax breaks and they will come. The Lake Nona project is a great example of public/private sector working together to bring in business that will offer high paying jobs.

[dmccauley]

There needs to be productivity and motivation from employees to fill these jobs. IMO Florida isn't this type of state. Most people come here for a stress free, laid back life style which equates to lower paying jobs.

[Sunny-Days-in-Florida]

Give companies incentives to come to Florida and the good workers will follow.

Florida could have both the tourist and higher paying jobs, something other states have no chance at.

Remember Charlotte? The town was growing like leaps and bounds for many years in the early 2000's, they stopped giving incentives and started taxing them to death and they are leaving and taking jobs elsewhere.

[Retiredcoach]

One would need to ask himself (herself), why would a larger company with many well-paying jobs choose Florida? Would it be for the cheap labor? Possibly, but China, Mexico, and India are cheaper yet.

Would it be for the cheaper taxes? Possibly, but if the company is leaving a particular area, relocation costs may not be offset enough to move. Plus, most states will offer even more incentives to stay.

Would it be for the readily available trained workforce? Florida would need to make a more pronounced initiative by investing more money into its schools.... something that would veer from traditional thinking and possibly costing more than most Floridians want to spend. Where some might call it an investment in the state's futures, others might call it another "tax grab".

One of the largest corporations in the US has a headquarters in Florida (Disney). What have they done to raise the standard of living for the state's residents? Big business and money do not always translate into a better standard of living for the residents.

Florida's best hope for the future would be to continue to promote the axiom, "Florida, the place where dreams are made of". Build upon the tourism factor with low crime and a sense of what one might not have elsewhere.

[Shoegal1075]

Why do yo think that we can figure these things out, but the people who make these decisions can't? It really is disconserting. I am moving to Florida for what I think is a better life for my kids, not to work less hard. My work ethic will be the same anywhere I go. I don't plan to move to Florida and then become lazy. I will be the same person there, that I am here. I just wish I didn't have to take a 40k pay cut for it.

[Shoegal1075]

Those companies should then be taxed on the other end. If you take our jobs away for cheaper less reliable employees you should have to pay for it some other way, to the poin that it would make keeping the jobs in this country more attractive.

There is nothing that I hate more than talking to Annabelle (Puja) from Punjab about my credit card bill. Neither one of us can understand eachother at all, I'd much rather talk to Liz from Kentucky who probably won't cost much more.

[TXRyan23]

unionize

[Shoegal1075]

Can they do that being a right to work state?

[TXRyan23]

Originally Posted by Chelsa1075

Can they do that being a right to work state?

Tennessee is a right to work state and when I worked for Kroger, I was in the union and we had very high wages and 100% paid benefits while I worked there. So I would assume yes.

Edit: Here is a website from Indiana to get rid of " Right to Work "

http://www.union1.org/badforindiana/