What to make of this local jobs report

A cock-and-bull story. adj: a fanciful and unbelievable tale.

The News & Record's Dick Barron writes today about a newly-released report touting Greensboro workers are getting the best jobs and incomes they have had in a decade.

It's nothing more than pure cock and bull.

These workers are probably getting the best jobs...if they like service work in a local service-oriented economy.

But Barron also writes:

The problem is, the report uses 2007 statistics — the most recent available — and doesn’t reflect the impact of an ongoing national recession.

That's more believable than the rest of what is said in this article.

N&R:

“The only concern I have, of course, is while we turned the corner in ’07, what has the fiscal crisis and the recession done to our community in the meantime? That is the $64,000 question,” said Keith Debbage, a professor of urban development at UNCG. He wrote “2009: The State of the City Report” for the Greensboro Partnership economic development group.

Without hard government figures for the local economy, Debbage and other officials can only hope that hiring growth at such companies as Honda Aircraft Co. and Tyco Electronics can keep the city’s economy from waning dramatically.

In addition, prospects of an 800-job aviation company now considering this area are keeping spirits high, he said.

Debbage’s report showed that the city has made progress in creating a more diverse economy that does not rely as heavily on manufacturing. But it also showed that the trade-off is a higher poverty rate.

The lowest-paying manufacturing jobs are gone, he said. And it’s likely that growth in retail jobs, which typically pay less, is putting more families below the $21,000-a-year poverty line.

Debbage said that his report offered continuing proof, however, that the city is developing industries that will grow when the economy improves.

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Cock and Bull.

With all due respect to Prof. Debbage, I don't think neither he, nor anyone downtown have a good sense of what's going on around town, from an economic standpoint.

And interestingly enough, I can't find this report anywhere online. If anyone finds a copy, sound off.

E.C. :)