>Going back to South Carolina today, let me tell you more about the
situation.... Unemployment is 5.4%, down from 6.8% a decade ago. Exports
to other countries are triple what they were in 1987. this is not going
to take away the pain, but overall, the situation is not bad.
Being a long-term resident of SC, let me also add that we have one of the
finest technical college systems in the US, based on a variety of studies,
and a number of other organizations (Quality Institutes and Management
Development Centers at the state-supported universities, educational
consortiums, Association Institutes, etc.) that support re-education and
re-training on the job.
Many of the big employers work in colaboration with the technical colleges
for job training. We also have a state-sponsored Technical Schools group
that do on-site job skills training for start-ups (and expansions, I
believe). Here in Upstate SC, there are over 200 foreign corporations
including the ones Rol mentioned and others like Robert Bosch, Hitachi,
Ryobi, and many others.
I'm not an expert on these services. But South Carolina does actively
support economic expansion and growth and a lot of the local newspaper
articles mention the fact that exports ARE important to economic
prosperity here. We ARE losing the textile manufacturing jobs, but when
they can pay so little overseas for unskilled manufacturing skill and hve
state-of-the art machinery, does it really make sense to _keep_ these
particular jobs? Customers have the choice to buy American, but they also
have the choice to purchase Value and high-price isn't always value-based.
It is a global economy. Let's focus on maximizing productivity and value;
protectionism is a doomed strategy. Let's educate the ones in need of
education by making good resources accessible. And let's get our
organizations to focus more on exporting goods and services. My wife and
I operate a business out of my library, and I sell books and games
worldwide -- about 30% of my income is through exports (and it's growing).
For the FUN of It!
Scott Simmerman
74170.1061@compuserve.com
--"Dr. Scott J. Simmerman" <74170.1061@compuserve.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>