That’s a good question. I suppose it’s just a matter of pride. I’ve lived in the area most of my life and I can’t get over how much folks complain about it.

This area has so much to offer. Sure there aren’t a lot of the same kinds of jobs that your parents had, but the times have changed. We have to look at the climate across the entire country. Unions have taken a “soft” attitude. In an effort to protect the benefits of the older members, they allowed new “tiers” of employee’s to enter the work force, and restricted their numbers to protect the benefits of the long standing members. It remains to be seen how this will affect the job market overall. A lot of the most senior members are not quite ready to retire, and I suppose some sort of protection was needed to prevent the newer members from negotiating away their benefits.

It seems that there are a lot of jobs around the area. They just don’t pay very well to start. Most of the bigger companies keep benefits to a minimum until a worker aquires some seniority. I think, that given the local economy, the area seems to hold promise for those that choose to “stick it out”.