Author:
Ned Depew
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Date Posted: 10:49:04 07/15/05 Fri
...working for SLC - for instance. You get to be a yard foreman, and there's nowhere else to go. You need college degrees (and in most cases, advanced degrees) to get into management.
But running your own business, which is what many independent conractors and shop-owners do, and what many of their employees will do when they get the skills and reputation to do so, is far from a "dead-end" job.
There are people who have retired from Kaz and L&B with "decent" retirement packages, and from the local banks, from the hospital and many other local employers. You can call their offices and request to be put in touch with recent retirees.
The owners of The Paramount "retired" from the restaurant business last year and had put enough aside to live on. Carole Clark from Charleston, likewise. Most of the American economy is based on small, self-run businesses, not corporate employment. Most of us develop our own retirement plans as best we are able.
My son didn't "leave" the area - he is on an extended visit to his cousin in Colorado. He plans to return here at some point, but like most young people he wanted to go out and see the world. No amount of "oppportunity" locally would change that.
Incidentally, he is working in Colorado doing the same work he was doing here at a pay scale that is 20-25% lower, in spite of the fact that living costs are about the same. But he's having fun and making enough to pay his bills, and he enjoys seeing how people outside of New England and the East Coast live, so it's worth it to him.
Jobs are only "dead-end" if you choose to make them so. You can always take what you learn at one job and use it to sell yourself to a better job - if you have the will and the initiative.
The point is there are many jobs, some paying very good money, some paying well-enough, and some paying entry-level wages (but well above State and Federal minimum) available in the County, some going begging, or being filled by people from as far away as Kingston and Albany.
Employment is not currently Hudson's major problem. Politics and education are.
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