I’ve never been an employer, always an employee only. I am grateful when on the receiving end of a regular paycheck, and happy when benefits are part of the package.
But in this economy, too many are coming up on the short side of the gainful employment spectrum.
More jobs and job creation are a primary part of the answer, but only if those jobs are of the pre-recession variety: full time, permanent and providing an adequate salary and benefits package.
Georgia leaders attempt to attract new businesses, and encourage business growth and development, by offering a variety of financial incentives, including various tax credits. Locally, many north Fulton municipalities are offering business incentives, as well, but Roswell recently became the first to expand their incentive package to include small businesses. That’s big because more than 60 percent of the city’s 5,400 businesses are home-based, and as Mayor Jere Wood observed, “most businesses start out small.”
As few as five new well-paying jobs need to be created in order to qualify for reductions and waivers of building permit fees, and although Wood considers this, “a small gesture,” he notes that, “every little bit helps.”
As defined in the city’s Economic Development Incentive Policy, a well-paying job earns at least 10 percent above Roswell’s median income which is $40,500, or $44,550. So far, one business has applied for the incentives.
This is the kind of expansion that is encouraging, growth that includes good jobs and a meaningful wage for workers. So many of the breadwinner jobs that were eliminated throughout the recession have not returned, being replaced instead by part time and temporary positions that pay less. This replaces unemployment with underemployment and contributes to the perception of economic instability. In the past four years, temps have accounted for 19 percent of the jobs added in Georgia.
Insecure consumers continue to be cautious as the economy takes small steps forward and then back again, all the while there’s the threat of leaps in interest rates.
Congressional action averted the doubling of student loan interest, but that doesn’t mean that rates won’t rise, adding to the crushing amount of national student debt, now totaling over $1 trillion.
What has student debt got to do with creating meaningful jobs?
The sobering fact is that millions of young adults begin their professional lives with a negative net worth, often owing tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. That means that even for those with decent paying jobs, there isn’t enough to allow for the purchase of a modest economy car, never mind the dream of a starter home, and without these types of purchases, the economy will not recover.
Including small businesses in the incentive packages designed to attract more good jobs to our community is positive and forward thinking. As for the colossal student debt crisis, it may take a Jubilee to cure.
Vicki Griffin has lived in Roswell for 22 years. You can reach her at vlg1230@hotmail.com
