Article: "Why NC has a poverty problem" (2014, employment)

[Francois]

Lots of reasons given as to why NC is unfortunately rising on the "poverty radar".

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Francois

Lots of reasons given as to why NC is unfortunately rising on the "poverty radar".

That's a registration required site.
Maybe paste a few select quotes instead?

Especially if any of their conclusions are significantly different than the more commonly
cited reasons for rising poverty and/or something other than the obvious and/or somehow
applicable to NC only or particularly.

Thanks.

eta...
ten minutes later the article finally paginated. I see four reasons:
NAFTA fallout, Medicaid opt out, UI cutback, state EITC eliminated

The last three certainly do exacerbate the underlying issue:
Far too many no/low skilled people vs far too few no/low skilled jobs.
And NAFTA certainly plays a large role in that reality.

More pointedly... never fully implementing the immigration law change requirements
that needed to be a part of shifting US jobs south completely decimated the larger intention.
Intentions that were noble and largely reasonable... in principle at least.
But were bound to fail in the absence of that counterbalance.

Worker skill level is almost immaterial to the larger issues facing all of the US (or NC):
The imbalance of available warm bodies vs work that actually needs doing remains the
#1 reason why wage rates (and benefits) trail need... and shall for some time to come.

Well, unless (until?) we find some way to meaningfully employ 20-40 millions of un and under
employed people doing *something* that won't dilute the employment value of the other 100
million or so who are already engaged in that work. Something that at the very least will make
them self sufficient... and maybe even (gasp!) able to pay some taxes as well.

That "not diluting the employment value of the others" aspect is critically important
and why most training and education schemes for this population will not really work
...and especially not for those over 40.

[CouponJack]

In order to be employed, you need companies to supply good paying jobs, correct?

How do you attract business to come to the area? You provide incentives for companies to come here and provide good paying jobs.

Also, I don't feel there's enough incentives out there for people (of any age) to learn a trade and get certified....how many people that are underemployed can learn a trade or skill which can provide extra steady income?


Those 2 things jump out at me....IMO raising the minimum wage or tinkering w/unemployment does not get at the root of the problem...those are only stopgaps, but don't address the real problem...just my .02

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by CouponJack

In order to be employed, you need (to have useful skills that) companies (which)
supply good paying jobs, (require) correct?

That's a large part of it.. sure.

How do you attract business to come to the area?
You provide incentives for companies to come here and provide good paying jobs.

Meh. What about the people who did those jobs where the company came from?

Shifting place of employment doesn't help overall. It never has.
All it leads to is the downward spiral we have seen over the last 50 years.

Also, I don't feel there's enough incentives out there for people (of any age) to learn
a trade and get certified....how many people that are underemployed can learn a trade
or skill which can provide extra steady income?

This implies that there are a significant number of skilled jobs standing idle.
There aren't. Even for those who who already have those skills.

To the degree that we COULD employ more people in trade skill work...
a far better approach would be to SHIFT those doing work creating ever more bedrooms...
to other far more useful projects. But that is still not any sort of real net gain in man hours.
---

In addittion to the 20-40 million un and under employed mentioned above... we have another
20-40 million working at jobs that exist solely because that mass of humanity exists.
They're called "service" jobs and they have become the tail that wags the dog.

eg: However valuable it is to have healthy teeth and gums...
absent that mass of people to serve how many fewer dental hygienists would we need?

[Francois]

Originally Posted by MrRational

That's a registration required site.
Maybe paste a few select quotes instead?

Hmmm--sorry. It didn't make me register.

[Umbria]

Originally Posted by Francois

Hmmm--sorry. It didn't make me register.

There was a registration page initially with a 10 second delay before the article appeared.

[CouponJack]

Originally Posted by MrRational

That's a large part of it.. sure.


Meh. What about the people who did those jobs where the company came from?

Shifting place of employment doesn't help overall. It never has.
All it leads to is the downward spiral we have seen over the last 50 years.


This implies that there are a significant number of skilled jobs standing idle.
There aren't. Even for those who who already have those skills.

To the degree that we COULD employ more people in trade skill work...
a far better approach would be to SHIFT those doing work creating ever more bedrooms...
to other far more useful projects. But that is still not any sort of real net gain in man hours.
---

In addittion to the 20-40 million un and under employed mentioned above... we have another
20-40 million working at jobs that exist solely because that mass of humanity exists.
They're called "service" jobs and they have become the tail that wags the dog.

eg: However valuable it is to have healthy teeth and gums...
absent that mass of people to serve how many fewer dental hygienists would we need?

One thing I didn't add, to me there is a thirst out there to start new businesses and ultimately hire people, but people today are so restricted by high taxes and red tape that alot of new businesses don't get off the ground.

If we made it easier to let people start new businesses, I think that would help alot...

[WaldoKitty]

That article blames NAFTA. One of Slick Willy's lasting legacies. (where exactly the opposite of everything promised, happened)

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by CouponJack

One thing I didn't add, to me there is a thirst out there to start new businesses and ultimately hire people, but people today are so restricted by high taxes and red tape that alot of new businesses don't get off the ground.

If we made it easier to let people start new businesses, I think that would help alot...

Yup. I looked into starting a business on ETSY. You can no longer start it & play around with it until you have it tweaked. Now you have to immediately register. That's fine & is my eventual intention, but it doesn't let you work out the kinks.

[arbyunc]

Originally Posted by CouponJack

One thing I didn't add, to me there is a thirst out there to start new businesses and ultimately hire people, but people today are so restricted by high taxes and red tape that alot of new businesses don't get off the ground.

If we made it easier to let people start new businesses, I think that would help alot...

Apparently you don't realize that NC's corporate and individual tax rates have been virtually unchanged for over 20+ years, and in fact dropped a bit during that time. Add the recent tax rate reduction, and your argument doesn't make much sense.