Governor Haslam ranks 4th in the country for job growth (Jackson: YMCA, universities)

[jchometeam]

And Jewelry Television

[JMT]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Now, that is certainly not a complete list in Knoxville. And there are far more very large companies in Memphis (UPS!) and Nashville and Chattanooga can come up with an impressive list as well. VW, Amazon, CBL and Associates and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee, anyone?

Minor correction (or major, depending on one's point of view): UPS is based in Atlanta; FedEx is based in Memphis. But otherwise, you are spot on. In addition, the Nashville area has seen several large corporate relocations (Nissan North America and Louisiana Pacific come to mind), and Memphis is also seeing an expansion of International Paper's headquarters complex.

[DubbleT]

Tri- cities could also use a good bit of PR. As a non native Tennessean living in Memphis I had never even heard of JC until some guy there won an HGTV contest. Had to google it because I had no idea where it was, and I was surprised to see the tri is a fairly large metro area for the state. Probably not a good sign that I could live in the state for almost twenty years without ever hearing the tri cities mentioned in conversation.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by DubbleT

Tri- cities could also use a good bit of PR. As a non native Tennessean living in Memphis I had never even heard of JC until some guy there won an HGTV contest. Had to google it because I had no idea where it was, and I was surprised to see the tri is a fairly large metro area for the state. Probably not a good sign that I could live in the state for almost twenty years without ever hearing the tri cities mentioned in conversation.

I do think it could use some more attention from the media and state government, which is part of the problem up here. All things considered, I think Johnson City is doing pretty well with what it has to work with. It has some more upscale retail than the other cities, as well as greater variety, and IMO, better restaurants than the other two cities. Its restaurant scene is actually quite good for a small city. I had an offer at MSHA two or three years ago, and while the pay was terrible, the facilities were terrific - among some of the best I've seen even when working at two Fortune 250s. JC has also not gotten into throwing public money at more retail businesses like I mentioned earlier in the thread.

JC is doing well if you throw out the job market, but Kingsport is just a dump all around. Crime is high, the mall is a mess, many businesses have closed, and the downtown is pitiful. Almost all of my basic retail shopping is done in VA, where sales tax is lower, and I go to JC for what I can't find in VA. Even as a mostly lifelong Kingsport resident, Kingsport offers nothing that I can't get either cheaper or better nearby. That's a major problem for this town. Bristol TN/VA is somewhere between Kingsport and JC.

People always talk about the Tri-Cities as having "small town problems," but it's really not a small town. The area's CSA is bigger than that of Roanoke VA. and very close to Asheville and Chattanooga. The best I've seen it described is "three feuding fiefdoms." The cities aren't big enough individually to be viable, but don't cooperate enough to attract anything.

Knoxville is doing better than the Tri-Cities, but pay is still poor overall, even factoring in cost of living. I work in IT and have gotten offers in the $10-$12/hr range there, but not higher. I've not gotten offers in Chattanooga, but payscales I've seen there have been equally poor. I don't know enough about Nashville to give an informed judgment.

I do think the people who say "everything's fine" aren't looking at the national recovery and realizing that though some areas of TN may be creating jobs, the quality of jobs we have is overall not so good. From everything I've seen in the Tri, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, this is still a bad state to live in, and I plan on relocating and not looking back as quickly as possible.

[nashvols]

Bye.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by nashvols

Bye.

Like the rest of the cheerleaders, you refuse to rebut any real points or offer any positive progression to the discussion - you just walk off in a huff. I'm glad that you're doing well, but I would wager more Tennesseans share my view of pessimism than yours of optimism. I can't prove the anecdotes and that's a problem to the pseudoscientists on this board. I'm trying to put forth points related to this topic and I get a "bye." That's not helpful to making the state a better place to live for all its residents, from the small towns to the metros.

This topic should just be closed as constructive, reasonable discussion can't be had on these boards with posters of your sympathies.

I have sent a PM to a mod to close this topic. Hopefully it will be done as this topic veered off more negatively than I had hoped.

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

I do think the people who say "everything's fine" aren't looking at the national recovery and realizing that though some areas of TN may be creating jobs, the quality of jobs we have is overall not so good. From everything I've seen in the Tri, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, this is still a bad state to live in, and I plan on relocating and not looking back as quickly as possible.

For you, it is a bad state to live in, and probably for a lot of other people too. However, as has been mentioned before, not everyone has the same priorities or wants the same things as you. For many of us who chose to relocate here from other areas, our quality of life in TN is as good as or better than the places we left. I truly hope you find a place where the grass is greener, but I suspect you may find out that in most cases it only looks that way from a distance.

[keithps]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

Knoxville is doing better than the Tri-Cities, but pay is still poor overall, even factoring in cost of living. I work in IT and have gotten offers in the $10-$12/hr range there, but not higher. I've not gotten offers in Chattanooga, but payscales I've seen there have been equally poor. I don't know enough about Nashville to give an informed judgment.

I do think the people who say "everything's fine" aren't looking at the national recovery and realizing that though some areas of TN may be creating jobs, the quality of jobs we have is overall not so good. From everything I've seen in the Tri, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, this is still a bad state to live in, and I plan on relocating and not looking back as quickly as possible.

Ok, you "work in IT", which is ridiculously vague. I have some friends (that are 28 years old) who "work in IT" in Chattanooga and make $70,000/year. Perhaps if you were less vague about what you do, it would make more sense on why job offers are $10-12/hr. It's like someone coming in here and saying "I work in sales and only make $7.25/hr", but neglecting to tell us they work as a cashier at Walmart.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

Like the rest of the cheerleaders, you refuse to rebut any real points or offer any positive progression to the discussion - you just walk off in a huff. I'm glad that you're doing well, but I would wager more Tennesseans share my view of pessimism than yours of optimism. I can't prove the anecdotes and that's a problem to the pseudoscientists on this board. I'm trying to put forth points related to this topic and I get a "bye." That's not helpful to making the state a better place to live for all its residents, from the small towns to the metros.

This topic should just be closed as constructive, reasonable discussion can't be had on these boards with posters of your sympathies.

I have sent a PM to a mod to close this topic. Hopefully it will be done as this topic veered off more negatively than I had hoped.

lol, if you think I'm a cheerleader, perhaps you should review some of my posts. I suppose you assume since I don't agree with you that I think everything is hunky-dory. Perhaps if you read as well as you ranted, you would know better.

I am perfectly fine with you having a negative opinion of Tennessee. If you notice, I don't jump in to the Tri Cities forum and try to refute what you say there. That's not my game. People should be able to get different perspectives.

However, once you step into the state forum and start talking about the state as a whole, I do take notice. And I'm not huffing and puffing. From the beginning, I've been trying to remind you that not everything is like where you live. But you continue to spout blanket statements about the low wages and lack of jobs and little presence of IT jobs in Tennessee. That's simply not a statement that holds true across the state.

When people come here for moving advice, they should get the good and bad of it...but they should also get the accurate. So if you quit with the broad blanket statements, I'll leave you alone. Got it?

I've stated before that the more rural and small town areas in Tennessee, as well as across the nation, are struggling economically. I have never denied that. There are exceptions, but largely they aren't doing as well. But you seem to take what is happening there and applying it as a whole, or saying "except for the major cities, TN is struggling" or something close to that. Most of Tennessee lives in those major cities. At least explain what your target is. It never hurts to be specific.



But if you're really serious about moving to the Midwest, I would focus all of my time there, if I were you, rather than complain about the current state of things where you are.

Au revoir.

[danielj72]

Anyone who is focused only on the job market to determine which state is the best to live in should move to North Dakota. The oil boom there has created so many jobs that they cannot be filled. The unemployment rate is almost non existant. Now would I want to live in ND, no I would not but some may like that environment. Tennessee IMO has a decent economy even if wages can tend to be a bit low. Also you cannot beat our climate and the scenic environment that we enjoy here. Just yesterday I took a drive into the mountains and hiked to a waterfall. You cannot do that in most Midwest states. In January Im sure the Midwest will seem a bit (a lot lol) cold as well. My advice to anyone heading for the Midwest is to avoid states like Mi, Wi, In or OH as they have economies there that make Tennessee look as if the streets are paved with gold. Unemployment is a way of life in some of those states, and their glory days were over decades ago. Mi and Wi are beautiful states in their northern parts, but you cannot live with no job. How do I know this??? I used to live in the northern part of Michigan. If you find work at all its part time work, so you need two jobs to live. The only advantage to that part of the country is the extremely cheap housing. You can buy a house for 40k-60k. Homes have lost so much value because of the collapsed economy that any one with ANY job can own a home. Be very careful moving to the Midwest, I would not go there without a job lined up. The only Midwest states I hear good economic things about is Minnesota or North Dakota (which is more western than Midwestern). The rest are iffy at best (like Iowa) or downright depressed (like Michigan).