Local economy is improving... (condo, credit, cheap home)

[SarahSal]

Originally Posted by rccrain

Hmm, perhaps they only "advertise" higher wages. That would be in synch with your experience. Bait and switch.

The new face of jobs in America - Corporate America, that is..

[rccrain]

Originally Posted by rccrain

Yes, it is. Retail sales are up for Washington County and Sullivan County for 4q 2010. 1q 2011 sales are going to be up big, 5-7%.

Dr Hipple, prized ETSU economist, trying to steal my thunder...

"The retail outlook for the Tri-Cities area continues to be positive. The region is enjoying strong employment growth so more people are working and receiving paychecks. The local purchasing power exists for additional improvements in retail activity." Analysis shows retail sales recovery solidly in place - Kingsport Times-News Online

It wouldn't surprise me to see retail sales up even more than my initial estimates.

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by NorthernLights

Maybe Tony started as a nursing assistant before minimum rose to 6.55/hour back in '08.

You are correct, it was 2008 and it was $6.55, I got a call from MSHA with an offer for that amount, I laughed out loud and asked the lady if she was serious. She was I took the CNA job as I wanted to work in the hospital while attending nursing school. Even now, the patient care techs are just paid the fed min wage of $7.25, have to work incredibly hard for very little salary. Next time you are in the hospital, thank the nursing assistants and know that they ain't in if for the money

Tony

[rccrain]

That's incredible to me. Man, that's a pretty important job, fighting staff infection, bed sores, etc. A salary website says the median wage is $26K. $7.25 comes to $15k, which is downright awful.

[SarahSal]

Originally Posted by rccrain

That's incredible to me. Man, that's a pretty important job, fighting staff infection, bed sores, etc. A salary website says the median wage is $26K. $7.25 comes to $15k, which is downright awful.

Sign of the times, elsewhere...

It is so crystal clear that if the Tri-Cities ever wants to become truly competitive with other comparable cities, the wages have to increase! Sure, you *maybe* can buy a cheaper house - and *maybe* the cost of living is a little less but all in all what they pay people here [who have to survive on these paltry salaries] is ridiculous. The TRI will never attract the kind of professionals who have the potential to help this city move forward if they don't start changing salary scales.

In fact, there's been a brain drain of qualified young folks [born and bred in the TRI] who didn't want to leave because they loved the area but left because there were no decent jobs for careers they'd been educated for. I am just one person but know of several of these wonderful young people who wanted to make a difference but had to survive - and pay off student loans - and just couldn't handle it financially in the TRI..

[jabogitlu]

Give it 3-4 years and I'll probably be one of those people

[NorthernLights]

I was speaking with a fellow patron at Alan Howell's Dixie Barbeque this afternoon about this situation. He claimed to be from a family that, like my family back home in Maryland, had ancestors in the local cemeteries hereabouts going back 200 years. It was interesting as I listened to him voice his complaints about the price of real estate going up because of [in his opinion], from the medical professionals coming into the area over the last decade or two and from the retirees from both north and south selling their valuable homes and bringing their money here to take advantage of the low real estate and low property taxes. He did admit that the best paying jobs in the area are with Eastman and with MSHA, etc. I have a different perspective of course and come from an area where my 110,000 dollar house would cost 300,000 dollars and my 845.00 property taxes would be 4,000.00 a year so it's interesting to listen to an older local residents point of view on such matters. I come from an area which is so completely, developed that to my point of view THIS area with it's hundreds of acres right outside the city limits of the tri-cities in all directions that are still in undeveloped farmland that it's hard to fathom how anyone can see this area as having over development issues. Granted I can't understand why the local builders keep building more condos when there are so many vacant condos here already puzzles me but....
It's a double edge sword. Sure, back home in Maryland, if you man a cash register at Lowe's you will make 13 bucks an hour, an administrative assistant, will make 35 to 40K. You'll get ten bucks an hour standing at the counter of any fast food emporium, and any office job that requires a bachelor's degree will pay about 40-45K. You can't even get a Mexican on a visa [or otherwise] to mow your yard for at least 12 bucks an hour. We'd love those salaries here to be sure but, the other edge of that sword is...you can't rent a one bedroom apartment for much under a 1,000 bucks a month there. Those office jobs are all near Baltimore or DC and you will drive 40 to 60 miles one way [at 4.00 a gallon gas] to get there. The commute in Maryland traffic, some of the worst in the country will deprive you of 10 to 15 hours of your life each week that you are not getting paid for but if you have kids you'll have to pay for someone to watch them for you while you commute, [not to mention miles on your car]. The average mileage on my car used to be close to 30K a year. Here, I don't put 10K a year on my commuter vehicle. Many of my neighbors run home from work at 12:10 to their homes in my neighborhood to eat a .63 can of Campbells soup and go to the mailbox, walk their dog, move the clothes from the washer to the dryer, go to the mailbox, maybe pay some bills, and then head back to the office at quarter to one. UNHEARD of back in central Maryland or many places where there are long commutes to work. They can't imagine such a luxury as running home for lunch.
Still, this area need more than MSHA and Eastman and auto parts suppliers and the supporting retail jobs to make this a paradise. If we're too far to be a manufacturing supplier to industries within a 4 hour shipping raidus then we need to attract consulting/engineering firms or other industry that can do business via internet. Call centers for credit companies and supporting retail businesses is not enough to drive up salaries here locally. You need something that can create a magnet for white collar industry. Of course, as that industry comes into the area, older residents will decry that those people are driving up the cost of real estate, the cost of living, the commute times, etc. and it becomes more like...the other congested areas we don't like that drew many of us to this area. But...that's the price for higher salaries, etc.

[dreamofmonterey]

Call centers like Bank of America are here and in Huntington West Virginia. Also Richmond Va. and Harlingen Texas (near the border) They are NOT in these locations because they can pay their workers well. They are sweatshops, and will continue to be so.

I was Ops manager for B of A. Their bottom line is obvious and continues to get worse. Feel bad for the 25 year olds now graduating with an M.B.A. in this area.

[old_grouch]

So true, NorthernLights. Be careful what you wish for, you might get it. Call it the gentrification of NE TN -- higher salaries, higher property prices, higher taxes, you might as well be back up north. Well, the winter's better than New Hampshire....

[hiknapster]

BRAVO.

Do you know what fries me? People that were warned, told to keep their great jobs and not move to the area and expect big money...those are the same people that now relentlessly complain about the area.

Originally Posted by NorthernLights

I was speaking with a fellow patron at Alan Howell's Dixie Barbeque this afternoon about this situation. He claimed to be from a family that, like my family back home in Maryland, had ancestors in the local cemeteries hereabouts going back 200 years. It was interesting as I listened to him voice his complaints about the price of real estate going up because of [in his opinion], from the medical professionals coming into the area over the last decade or two and from the retirees from both north and south selling their valuable homes and bringing their money here to take advantage of the low real estate and low property taxes. He did admit that the best paying jobs in the area are with Eastman and with MSHA, etc. I have a different perspective of course and come from an area where my 110,000 dollar house would cost 300,000 dollars and my 845.00 property taxes would be 4,000.00 a year so it's interesting to listen to an older local residents point of view on such matters. I come from an area which is so completely, developed that to my point of view THIS area with it's hundreds of acres right outside the city limits of the tri-cities in all directions that are still in undeveloped farmland that it's hard to fathom how anyone can see this area as having over development issues. Granted I can't understand why the local builders keep building more condos when there are so many vacant condos here already puzzles me but....
It's a double edge sword. Sure, back home in Maryland, if you man a cash register at Lowe's you will make 13 bucks an hour, an administrative assistant, will make 35 to 40K. You'll get ten bucks an hour standing at the counter of any fast food emporium, and any office job that requires a bachelor's degree will pay about 40-45K. You can't even get a Mexican on a visa [or otherwise] to mow your yard for at least 12 bucks an hour. We'd love those salaries here to be sure but, the other edge of that sword is...you can't rent a one bedroom apartment for much under a 1,000 bucks a month there. Those office jobs are all near Baltimore or DC and you will drive 40 to 60 miles one way [at 4.00 a gallon gas] to get there. The commute in Maryland traffic, some of the worst in the country will deprive you of 10 to 15 hours of your life each week that you are not getting paid for but if you have kids you'll have to pay for someone to watch them for you while you commute, [not to mention miles on your car]. The average mileage on my car used to be close to 30K a year. Here, I don't put 10K a year on my commuter vehicle. Many of my neighbors run home from work at 12:10 to their homes in my neighborhood to eat a .63 can of Campbells soup and go to the mailbox, walk their dog, move the clothes from the washer to the dryer, go to the mailbox, maybe pay some bills, and then head back to the office at quarter to one. UNHEARD of back in central Maryland or many places where there are long commutes to work. They can't imagine such a luxury as running home for lunch.
Still, this area need more than MSHA and Eastman and auto parts suppliers and the supporting retail jobs to make this a paradise. If we're too far to be a manufacturing supplier to industries within a 4 hour shipping raidus then we need to attract consulting/engineering firms or other industry that can do business via internet. Call centers for credit companies and supporting retail businesses is not enough to drive up salaries here locally. You need something that can create a magnet for white collar industry. Of course, as that industry comes into the area, older residents will decry that those people are driving up the cost of real estate, the cost of living, the commute times, etc. and it becomes more like...the other congested areas we don't like that drew many of us to this area. But...that's the price for higher salaries, etc.