Where Have All The Young People Gone?
Have you looked around the work place and taken notice that there are few if any 18-30 year olds working with you? Why is that you may ask, well look around, just what employment opportunities are here for a person starting out in life. There are farm related jobs, laborer or construction jobs, and then the good old truck driver jobs and that’s about it.
When you hear your elected officials talking about job growth, just where is it in reference to Southern Lancaster County? It’s not here.
Job creation here in Lancaster County is targeted at the seasonal tourist trade, and not a local permanent industrial service industry that the young people can get a start in life with and gain work experience to advance in life. It seems that all job development is geared for the city and not the southern end.
Instead of using our farmland to building more homes, our elected officials should be looking at bring different types of business and industry and our schools geared to support them. If you take a look at ours schools teachings, it is basically geared to send the young that can afford it one way or another, off to collage and the poor, young and dumb are stuck here with few places to work and earn a livable wage see how minimum wage $.5.15 per hour and lets face it, just who can live on $206.00 before taxes. With rent running around $500.00 per month and lets through in another $200.00 for phone, electric, gas, then there is the car/truck to go to work in, as there is no form of public transportation, with cost around $200.00 to $300.00 per month for fuel, oil, insurance, and normal ware, and then there is food and clothing for about $250.00 per month, if they are single living alone, so some quick math comes to a sum of around $1,250.00 needed for a month to live on, cant do that at $5.15 per hour now can you.
Our schools need to be teaching more then the abc’s, they should be teaching the children that are not going to collage, a skilled trade that they can earn a good, not fair, wage to support them self and a family on, after all, not all can go to collage due to family responsibility, low grades, lack of money, or just plane don’t want to go.
Our elected officials have a responsibility to try and encourage job growth as well as new home growth, after all, where will the people who move into these new homes work, Lancaster City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Harrisburg or some other place within 100 miles from what they call home. When people have to drive long distances to find employment, they not only have less time to spend with their families, but are also taken revenue out of the communities that they live in, and also add to traffic congestion, and air pollution.
Remember, it’s your vote that put these powers to be in office as elected officials to do thing to better the people, all the people, they serve whether they are a school board member, supervisor of a township or bough, state or federal reprehensive, you elected them to serve you, the people, and if they are not doing the job they can be replaced.
It’s your constitutional responsibility as a citizen to vote, us it, get involved.
At the present time our youth that have chosen the military as a way of life and employment are fighting and giving up their lives to give and ensure this right for others around the world that freedom will prevail.
Don’t take this right for granted. Get involved. Vote and put people in power that have your interests in mine, and not just their position and pay check.
-- Bill, Quarryville.
POSTED 051220_1030 EST
