Jobs war is on its way

Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup, has written a most enlightening book titled "The Coming Jobs War." The basic data used to formulate Clifton's conclusions are a result of Gallup's worldwide polling, which they have refined during the last 75 years.

Interestingly, their findings coincide with recent data gathered by the University of Idaho for CDA 2030. America's most pressing current problem, according to Gallup, is a lack of good-paying jobs. Coeur d'Alene's greatest weakness, according to the U of I's study, is the lack of jobs and low paying jobs, by more than 2 to 1.

Gallup Economics estimates that there are 15 million unemployed Americans and another 15 million underemployed. This represents 20 percent of the 150 million Americans who want a job. Furthermore, after six years of worldwide research, Gallup discovered that the single greatest want or need in the world is that of a good job. It is not world peace, health care or freedom, but rather that of a good job.

What about locally, here in Cd'A? What do we want? What do we value? Equally, how do we feel we deliver on what we need and value?

To answer these questions CDA 2030 asked the U of I's Social Science Research Unit to conduct a local survey. Here is some of what they found.

* 80 percent of us value as "Very Important" the "Availability of a living wage job," yet 75 percent of us believe that the area rates "Fair to Very Poor" in delivering on this need.

* 69 percent value as "Very Important" "Diversity of jobs," but here again 70 percent rate Cd'A as "Fair to Very Poor" in delivering on this need.

* When asked about Cd'A's greatest weakness, the "Lack of Jobs" and "Low Paying Jobs" were cited more than two times that of any other response.

* When asked about the future and their individual vision for Cd'A, respondents cited job creation as their No. 1 recommendation.

Clearly the U of I's data is very consistent with that of Gallup's.

Job growth and job generation must become not only a national goal, but a local priority. Locally we must focus great attention to this issue. We all know that most sustainable long term jobs are generated by small to medium sized businesses. How do we help these businesses succeed? How do we create a great business climate here in Cd'A? What can we do to foster existing business job growth and attract new ones?

We must use every tool available to generate job growth.

We must invest in infrastructure to assure long-term growth potential.

We must be open to new ideas and policy that will reward job generation.

We must use our tremendous environment and recreational resources to attract businesses that value, as we do, this natural advantage.

We must invest in innovative educational programs that seek to provide a workforce with the skills necessary to get a good job, and we must link educational outcomes to business workforce needs.

We must foster entrepreneurship and minimize regulation.

We must maintain reasonable tax structures providing efficient and effective services, based on value and ROI.

We must provide solid leadership at all levels of government, at our institutions and in our organizations.

I urge you to pick up a copy of Clifton's book and encourage you to take an active role in organizations like the chamber, Jobs Plus, Panhandle Area Council, Vision CDA 2030, and other organizations that can deliver on the above.

P.S.: To view the entire research results, go to www.cda2030.org.

Steve Wilson is president of the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce.