Hard times are hitting everywhere but unlike Coos County where young adults flee the area as soon as they have a car and enough money to fill the tank in search of opportunity and some semblance of a life outside of the bars, the police harassment and the failed promises of new jobs Portland appeals to youth.
A Portland economist who has studied the “young creatives” says Sowa is typical.
“It’s not as if it’s great somewhere else,” said Joseph Cortright, chairman of Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s council of economic advisers and author in 2005 of a study of young people and American cities, “The Young and Restless in a Knowledge Economy.”
Cortright said the United States soon will face a shortage of well-educated workers. Baby boomers are retiring, he said, and the rising percentages of women and college graduates in the work force are leveling off.
That, he said, will make winners of cities such as Portland that offer creative, entrepreneurial young people something distinctive, whether it is warm climate, cool culture, a combination of the two or something else entirely.
According to a local union head, the average literacy rate for Coos County’s work force is 5th grade. Whether true or not it seems that there is a decided shortage of young adults in the local economy despite beautiful natural beauty and ample potential to develop a thriving sustainable economy.
Little will change in Coos County until the workforce stop reelecting the same tired old minds that got this county into the mess it is in now. Does a low literacy rate explain why the electorate keep leaders who have implemented policies that make the county unpalatable to young, educated, intelligent and hopefully progressive thinkers?
Coquille’s mayor, Steve Britton, once commented he believed Coquille would be discovered as a retiree haven and make the transition to a service based economy. Personally, I have zero interest in raising my children in an economic environment with so bland a future.
We need ‘young creatives’ in Coos County and we need them in leadership positions because the old farts have really done a lousy job.
