The Herald Bulletin
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There’s no escaping the facts that, on this Labor Day, Madison County suffers from a high unemployment rate (11.7 percent in July) and that many folks are underemployed.
Those are incontrovertible offshoots of the double-whammy that has hit the Anderson area over the past decade. First, the auto industry sucker-punched us by moving out for cheaper labor. Then, the recession blind-sided the local economy.
As a result, we have more working-age people than we do good jobs. And we have folks working in low-wage service positions who have so much more potential than that.
Most of the unemployed really want to find work. They’re industrious by nature, and some of them have good education or training. They just can’t make the jobs materialize out of thin air.
So they’re left with the choice of sticking around here until things get better, or leaving for another area of the county where the economy isn’t as depressed.
There’s another option: more education or re-training in a field that shows promise — such as health care. An Associated Press story published on page A1 of The Herald Bulletin today notes that when businesses start hiring again they’ll be looking for workers with “specialized skills and education.” Those who lack such training could be left to fend for low-paying jobs — or be left with no job at all.
In a local story about the labor market, a source laments the passing of the good ol’ days when folks in Madison County could claim high-paying jobs at General Motors without graduating from high school.
This community accumulated a lot of wealth back in those days, with as many as 25,000 auto-industry workers and attendant white collar positions. But that era, sadly enough, is long gone.
Bright Automotive has plans to mass produce a hybrid plug-in commercial service van, and Remy has a contract to provide electric motors for Chevy Equinox conversion. Certainly, those possibilities could give the Anderson area a much-needed employment boost, but neither would bring tens of thousands of jobs.
What we really need is to attract new small and mid-sized employers consistently — a dozen or so a year would be a good pace. Local economic development officials, in a highly competitive environment, face an extraordinary challenge.
If Madison County has a great variety of industries across all sectors, we’ll be less susceptible to fluctuations in specific sectors of the economy.
At the individual level, Madison County residents need to invest in their futures by investing in their education and the education of their children. Local educational offerings are on the rise as Ivy Tech Community College plans to build a new campus here, Anderson University continues to add dimensions to its adult education core and other schools and programs try to capitalize on the need for training and re-training.
GM jobs don’t just fall to the able-bodied anymore in Madison County. Folks have to make themselves marketable by graduating from high school and then seeking the right additional training or education.
This community is built on the model of hard work, and hard work is just as important as ever. The difference now: We have to be smart about preparing for a better future.
