Be careful what you wish for because you may get it. That’s what my mother always told me. I trust your mother was just as wise. Now, years later, I’m worried. Everyone is wishing for more jobs. What happens if we get them? Here!
Once upon a time in this great land there were two major political parties. One was called the Republican Party. Others called themselves Democrats. Then there was a financial meltdown. It flowed like lava over the land. The people were scared. So they united to form a single party. They called it the Jobs Party. No one leans left or right, everyone stands straight for jobs. No matter where.
However, before the lava flowed into our neck of the woods, we were fond of proclaiming that this place was special, that the quality of life here meant more than a bigger pay check elsewhere.
I liked that kind of thinking. So I moved to be with such thoughts.
I believe that you and I are in agreement on matters of time and money. Time counts more. A big boost in our work hours versus our free time can upset our way of life. If we get all of the jobs we wish for maybe we will be at risk of killing what we most cherish about our area. I recently returned from the Big Apple, a great place to visit, but who from the valley wishes to live there? We plain don’t like city life – even when it means fatter pay checks.
Do Virginia’s leaders know this? I’m not sure. Lt. Governor Bill Bolling sent me an email. He wrote, “During the past decade, the manufacturing sector in America has shed 5.5 million jobs.”
Mr. Bolling, I have a simple solution for getting those jobs back. It is for the American worker to be less productive. We have the most productive workers in the world. It’s why the Japanese don’t build most of their cars in Japan. We have a labor distribution change, not a manufacturing problem. The manufacturing share of our economy is down somewhat, but what is really down is the number of workers engaged in manufacturing, from 50% to 16%.
Now I don’t believe Mr. Bolling wishes for Virginians to be less productive. Yet we keep going after jobs as if it is simply a numbers game. Life is more than numbers. When Toyota quietly pulled out of a plant site near the Augusta-Rockbridge County line and headed for Mississippi we cried. And when ground was recently broken for the new Heatex plant at Natural Bridge Station we cheered, in spite of the fact that only 14 new blue collar jobs will be created.
Ah, blue collar jobs! Why don’t I hear about campaigns attempting to bring white collar, higher paying, more professional jobs to the area? Because we are still stuck in a blue over white frame of mind. An imbalance of work collars can unbalance our lives. And what are the side effects of more jobs? Do we really wish to be like Northern Virginia? Or another old plant city?
What’s the answer? It is not in the wishing – it is in being careful – – careful that we have the right numbers and the right mix of jobs and knowing that the valley has a good thing going. And not to mess it up in order to be like too many other places in Virginia.
I think I’ll quit the Jobs Party and rejoin one of the other two. When the donkey and the elephant battle it out we will get the right jobs mix.
Column by David Reynolds
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