New England may see exodus of young talent, study warns (1 more thing in common with France)

Boston Globe ^ | June 29, 2006 | Ross Kerber

[presidio9]

New England states will face a shortage of educated young workers if demographic trends continue, according to a study to be released today, a shift that could exacerbate business leaders' worries about the region's workforce.

The report, by scholars at the universities of Massachusetts and Connecticut, finds that each of those states stands to lose tens of thousands of young workers holding at least a bachelor's degree by 2020, a period when the same critical workforce will grow in other regions.

``This new finding should heighten everyone's concerns about the region's long-term economic vitality," concludes the report, which was sponsored by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, a Quincy philanthropy that promotes access to colleges and universities.

Moreover, the working-age populations of both states, plus those of Maine and Rhode Island, will shrink over the same period, the report found, in contrast to the growth expected in Sun Belt and Western states. Businesses will be particularly anxious about the lower numbers of skilled workers, said study co author Stephen Coelen of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis in Storrs.

``You can look at this any way you want to and you'll find we have lost population, which is going to make it harder to be competitive," Coelen said in an interview yesterday. ``We've constantly been talking about this trend since the 1990s, but we have never had data that show we're on the precipice as much as we're seeing this now."

The report comes as some of the largest companies with headquarters in Massachusetts, such as mutual-fund giant Fidelity Investments and data-storage maker EMC Corp., increasingly are adding employees in other states and countries, amid worries they have tapped out the workforce in a state that census data show is growing slowly.

[bmwcyle]

Socialism does not work.

[presidio9]

More importantly, there's nowhere to park and the Boston garages charge an arm and a leg.

[HostileTerritory]

I love Newburyport and my parents were very impressed with it for the Federal-style homes and the brick downtown. I'm drawing a blank on a good place to visit for more of a colonial experience, and have never been to Plimoth Plantation.

[Little Bill]

We own some property in Newburyport, it is a nice place, but horribly yuppie. Almost every town or city has a few colonial homes, a girl I went to High School lived in one in Marblehead, in her family for 350 years.

Plimoth Plantation is a reconstruction. The best collection of old homes that I have seen is Greenfield Village at the Henry Ford Museum.

You might want to contact the Mass Historical Society or the Mass DAR.

[GOP_1900AD]

Although technically part of the Sun Belt, California faces the same type of future. The newly wed and the nearly dead, with seas of low paid service workers. Big business is disinvesting as we speak.

[nutmeg]

Connecticut ping!

Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.

[Fixit]

Sure NY isn't part of New England, but NY is also losing young people at a pretty quick clip.

(I wonder if the Boston Globe only did this story as a response to the NYT story about upstate a few weeks ago.)

[Man50D]

Why do you think the cost of living is so high? Corporations don't pay taxes, they pass them on to the consumer. To some extent personal income taxes drive those prices up, too.

Exactly, not to mention the embedded taxes that are applied at each stage of production (Value Added Taxes). Fortunately there is a bill before Congress Titled The Fair Tax Act, H.R.25 in the House and S.25 in the Senate, that will address the state tax issue Fair Tax FAQ #25 by lowering the state sales tax significantly while collecting the same amount of state sales tax if states conform to the Fair Tax. Fair Tax ping!

[Andonius_99]

Thanks for the ping, nutmeg! I know I'm sure getting the hell outta dodge when I graduate! if the state gets better in the future, maybe I'll come back...if they can do something about that whole "winter" thing... :-)

[pigdog]

In addition to the links posted in #51, it's helpful (and enlightening) to read the bill itself, HR25 .

A "flyspeck copy" of the bill (S25) is also in front of the Senate.

[pigdog]

OOps, sorry, the links were posted in #88 FOR the post in #51.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well . . . Welcome South Brother.

Georgia's nice, once you get used to the hot weather.

One of my kids had a teacher who moved down here from Boston in the middle of July. She didn't understand the importance of keeping cool, staying hydrated, and resting in the heat of the day.

Darn near died of heat stroke.

[maine-iac7]

"``We've constantly been talking about this trend since the 1990s"....................................
A lot longer than that... I graduated in Maine in the early 1950's. My town's population was hovering @ 6,000. It still is.


you posted: "The Globe can't seem to understand the real reason is the brutal tax system in New England. Connect the dots."

Maine is almost the highest taxed state - yet almost bottom on the per-capita income.

Gee, why are young folk still leaving???

(I took off after graduation and lived all over the country for the next quarter century before coming back...a 'roots' thing. But I see that if my grandkids, now graduating and in college, want to be more than a bagger or checkout clerk, they will look elsewhere...and the state has never addressed this with less punishing laws, for one example, - the workers comp insurance in this state is insane. It's a joke in the boardrooms across the country. Why should businesses locate here?)

[right-wingin_It]

These are Blue people that will be makeing the Red States Blue-er. Enjoy your purple (barf). Anyone who is raised in, or has lived in CT, will never be true Red. We are a tainted people, and it starte when we're young. Send us back. Do not accept us! Preserve your precious homeland.

Folks that are 30-60% conservative and move into your 70%+ conservative state will dilute it to like 50% in no time! I'm concerned...very concerned.

[right-wingin_It]

These are Blue people that will be makeing the Red States Blue-er. Enjoy your purple (barf). Anyone who is raised in, or has lived in CT, will never be true Red. We are a tainted people, and it starte when we're young. Send us back. Do not accept us! Preserve your precious homeland.

Folks that are 30-60% conservative and move into your 70%+ conservative state will dilute it to like 50% in no time! I'm concerned...very concerned.