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Old 11-25-2014, 12:54 AM
 
4,668 posts, read 3,895,040 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater View Post
Unemployment rates are low in some areas due to the very high out-migration of people for a variety of factors, not due to any significant new or increased job growth. Some areas of NW Kansas, Hays, has a larger percentage new job growth and acts as a regional town of increased significance as it is a retail trade center for a large number of rural counties that surround it. SW Kansas really has little in common with the rest of the state, but has quite a bit in common with the panhandle regions of Oklahoma and Texas. Same economic activities and very similar demographics overall. The lower than average unemployment rates in Kansas also mask some of the significant headwinds that most of its cities have with wage and job growth outside of Johnson County, although that is also a national issue.
What you say is true, rural areas especially aren't seeing job growth and are experiencing heavy migration to urban areas or leaving the state all together. That being said, I don't think it's fair for people to imply its Brownbacks fault. This has been occurring for decades, but worsened during the recession. This migration to urban areas is occurring all over the nation. I live near Topeka, and the economy here seems better then ever. By most statistics Kansas is average or just above average in unemployment, growth, real estate, etc. Kansas doesn't need the job growth that other states need, our unemployment levels relatively weren't that bad. Now, I could see an argument that Kansas should have come out of the recession strong, but we don't have the leadership for that. Brownback is a pretty average governor, not terrible like many on here like to proclaim, but not great either.
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Old 11-25-2014, 11:22 AM
 
Location: Kansas
25,939 posts, read 22,089,429 times
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We had a realtor. We need people that are able to make the payments and make the down payment. The area took a major hit 10 days after we bought the house and have yet to recover. Here, so much is service work, retail and eldercare. As KanCare squeezes the medical care and services for people on the different Medicaid waivers, jobs will disappear as will the Federal government's contribution to that care and services. It will take a couple years to really start to have an impact. As anyone that understands economics, that sort of thing has a snowball effect over time. Watch and learn.

Most people posting here are from the largest cities in KS which have nothing to do with the rest of the state. There is more to Kansas than Topeka, Lawrence, Johnson County and KC.
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Old 11-25-2014, 02:05 PM
 
13,721 posts, read 19,246,566 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnywhereElse View Post
We had a realtor. We need people that are able to make the payments and make the down payment. The area took a major hit 10 days after we bought the house and have yet to recover. Here, so much is service work, retail and eldercare. As KanCare squeezes the medical care and services for people on the different Medicaid waivers, jobs will disappear as will the Federal government's contribution to that care and services. It will take a couple years to really start to have an impact. As anyone that understands economics, that sort of thing has a snowball effect over time. Watch and learn.

Most people posting here are from the largest cities in KS which have nothing to do with the rest of the state. There is more to Kansas than Topeka, Lawrence, Johnson County and KC.
I have lived in rural Kansas.
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Old 11-25-2014, 04:24 PM
 
Location: Kansas
25,939 posts, read 22,089,429 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luzianne View Post
I have lived in rural Kansas.
Then you realize that houses can be on the market for a long time and ours was on the market from Jul to Nov this year since we missed spring sales because I was finishing up some ceiling work. The work on the house was delayed since our son had to leave the day program and watching him from a ladder was not compatible to my well-being. We had someone interested IF they sell their house. Another 2 families buying together were still considering which to buy or something to that effect. We are gaining jobs here very slowly considering the service area, many smaller communities that have people coming in for jobs. We have people going into Topeka since wages are better there, many appear to carpool. The payment on our house, everything included, would be 1/2 the rent for a similar house but without a down payment, renting is the only choice and with paying twice the cost of the house payment for rent, there is no money to save. We would never rent a house out that we owned again. Our house was fairly priced but economic conditions did not come together.

I cannot imagine in my worst nightmare getting out of high school to get a life long job at Wal-Mart. No chance to save any money and barely surviving. I have known so many people here that had they relocated, they would have been successful as they are bright and hard workers yet end up with jobs very below what they are capable of and no, it was not that they had happy lives where they were living, they just had no choice. Yes, times are tough but KS has been this way for as long as I can remember. It is hard to see people trapped by poverty and worse yet when the reality is being masked in the name of political favor.

Where are all these jobs that are being created? I know last year, they opened a Freddies (I think it was or something similar here) and Hostess reopened with less than 200 workers having closed the year before and having 600 workers. Those 200 jobs were considered as jobs "created" even though the loss was greater than the gain which I thought was very misleading. It is not uncommon for workers to be eliminated because of lack of work and when they hire again, they are considered jobs "created". I wonder how much 1 step forward and 2 steps back are included in the job creation.

House goes back on the market in the early spring (different realtor) and hopefully, our son will not have any serious health issues before we can relocate.

Brownback has become such a joke that I don't think that there will be a big rush into KS any time soon. Who wanted to be connected to bad press?
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Old 11-25-2014, 09:52 PM
 
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It was a different experience for my parents in Kansas. Their houses always sold immediately when they put them on the market. They would price them high to give them some time to look for a new place (usually they were wanting something with more acreage) and someone would buy it for the asking price as soon as they listed it. They always had good luck like that. I always thought they had good karma; good things just seemed to follow them. But it was also a different time, so I understand things are different now.

Anyway, good luck on relisting in the spring.
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Old 11-26-2014, 05:00 AM
 
Location: Kansas
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Thanks, Luzianne. I do realize there are a lot of good people here and that is part of my "beef" with the state government. I believe they could do much better by the people. Actually, all levels of government could. Too many "pet" projects everywhere I look. I had no use for the government under Sebelius either. I guess the idea of a "government for the people" is expecting too much. All places have issues but between King Brownback and King Obama................. Political parties have come to mean nothing.
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Old 11-26-2014, 01:26 PM
 
12,282 posts, read 13,232,358 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luzianne View Post
I don't understand your constant Kansas bashing. If you hate it so much, leave - instead of just complaining about it all the time. There are plenty of people who live in Kansas and are doing just fine. I got a great education in Kansas - elementary, junior high, high school and college. My kids got great educations in Kansas - elementary, middle school, high school and college. I have never been unemployed. My husband has never been unemployed. My kids have never been unemployed. Sorry your life is so hard in Kansas. Maybe it will be better somewhere else.

Here's an article: Stunning new surge of jobs in Kansas in October. It's newer than the articles you linked to.

Stunning new surge of jobs in Kansas will put big smile on Sam Brownback
I see nothing wrong with what she is pointing out and how people are ignored. Do you have DD child? If not the walk a mile in her shoes and get back with us.

Wasn't there and article from a KC Star reporter that has a Ventilator and the reporter asked Brownback what should he do if his ventilator came out?. Brownback replied"go to your neighbor and they will put it back in for you.
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Old 12-04-2014, 06:24 PM
 
Location: Kansas
25,939 posts, read 22,089,429 times
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I saw the funniest article this week by the spin team for Brownback where they were bragging about there only being 18 people unemployed and looking for work in Wallace County and how few unemployed there were in NW KS. Seriously, Wallace County is the 2nd smallest county in KS and the entire NW is sparsely populated. He needs to beef up his "spin" team because it just seemed pitiful to make that choice although I think many outside the state don't realize how sparsely populated the NW is. Also, I looked at the historical data and Wallace County in the recent past had a population in one year of a 15% decrease. Too silly. I was embarrassed by the guy that wanted to dispute Brownback's glory with me on FB so I did a lot of interesting research regarding employment in the state. I did see that Dillons was adding 50 jobs in one of the populated areas. We need to look at what kind of jobs are being created. We need jobs that don't need to be supplemented by public assistance.
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Old 12-04-2014, 11:10 PM
 
13,721 posts, read 19,246,566 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnywhereElse View Post
I saw the funniest article this week by the spin team for Brownback where they were bragging about there only being 18 people unemployed and looking for work in Wallace County and how few unemployed there were in NW KS. Seriously, Wallace County is the 2nd smallest county in KS and the entire NW is sparsely populated. He needs to beef up his "spin" team because it just seemed pitiful to make that choice although I think many outside the state don't realize how sparsely populated the NW is. Also, I looked at the historical data and Wallace County in the recent past had a population in one year of a 15% decrease. Too silly. I was embarrassed by the guy that wanted to dispute Brownback's glory with me on FB so I did a lot of interesting research regarding employment in the state. I did see that Dillons was adding 50 jobs in one of the populated areas. We need to look at what kind of jobs are being created. We need jobs that don't need to be supplemented by public assistance.
Kansas' unemployment is way below the national average.
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Old 12-05-2014, 07:03 AM
 
Location: Kansas
25,939 posts, read 22,089,429 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luzianne View Post
Kansas' unemployment is way below the national average.
But, you just have to look at the historical data on population in Wallace County to see the joke that discussing unemployment there is: Wallace County, Kansas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A big reason why people leave the area, especially younger people, is the lack of jobs. Obviously, as those people leave, the unemployment rate goes down. HDNews.net - an online service of the Hays Daily News and look at Ness County's historical population decline: Ness County, Kansas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and also Logan County's historical population decline: Logan County, Kansas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It just doesn't look like an honest representation of what is going on. In western KS, I do wonder if the illegal population, large one, doesn't throw off the numbers. And check out the number of children that live in poverty in the Executive Summary: http://www.dcf.ks.gov/Newsroom/Docum...20Anderson.pdf Greeley County: Greeley County, Kansas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And looking at the different states: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary shows trends in the different areas of the country.

It is more than worth the time to dissect the stories coming out of the Governor's office. Sadly, I voted for him the first time around because I wasn't familiar with his tactics at that time. I am ashamed to say I voted for him.

Found this little add-on: http://www.kansas.com/news/article1138420.html It appears that the solution to a state's unemployment issues is having them leave the state. I would have to say that Brownback has been doing a good job at that. Perhaps he could be farmed out to a state with high unemployment and after the out-migration, they can applaud his efforts of lowering unemployment?

Last edited by AnywhereElse; 12-05-2014 at 07:59 AM..
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