Now , Most of the people we have been hearing from on this blog are white collar. Myself, I’m a commercial electrician. So maybe I can offer another point of view.
If you find it rough here as a white collar worker. Try being a blue collar worker who does not speak Spanish.
I went through five years of school for my trade to become a Journeyman. I had to go out of state to get an electrical license because Arizona does not license electricians (or any other trades) . Anyone who wants to call themselves an electrician in this state can. For this reason Job openings are now few and far apart and the pay is as much as 50% to 80% less then states that do license electricians. In fact , Tucson ( I assume other cities as well) is full of electricians that failed the test in there home states. I have also found that some shops will not hire anyone that does not speak Spanish. I was lied off a few months ago for being the only one on the crew that did not speak Spanish (the others did speak English, but did not like to). What the hell ? I thought this was am English speaking country.
Then the city of Tucson starts going out of state for bids on contracts for city jobs !
What are they thinking ?
The city council keeps running off one company after another that wants to build and grow in Tucson. Unwilling to work with them on taxes and infrastructure. Intel , IBM, Sun tech, Hughes Helicopter , slim fast and many others , run off. Along with all the good high paying jobs and better standard of living.
Ok, News flash. You want the economy to improve. Bring in as many jobs as you can. Jobs that pay a living wage. Now the slave wages that have been so prevalent in Tucson.
Tucson is no place for a middle class working man to try to make a living.
