business backgrounder | economy
“ It’ s a pretty organic effort to build support for an economically and environmentally sound business community. Too often, you hear only from the far left and the far right, and we want to connect those dots in the middle and give a voice to those who aren’ t being heard, those who care deeply about our environment but also know that jobs are vital to our region.”
— Tom Pierson, president and CEO, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber
Launched on May 10 at an event at University of Washington Tacoma attended by more than 100 community leaders, the Place for Jobs coalition’ s lofty aim centers around the premise that the South Sound region is strengthened when residents unite around values we all share: creating quality jobs and preserving the natural environment.
By highlighting the importance of jobs to the South Sound way of life, the coalition also seeks to persuade more workers to consider a life in the South Sound.
The Place for Jobs coalition will help preserve places to do business and grow, according to co-chair Bruce Dammeier, Pierce County Executive. The South Sound has a long history as a vibrant economic center, but it’ s undervalued as a place to live and work, he says.
Dammeier cites Pierce County’ s relatively high unemployment rate— as of May 2017, over 5 percent and nearly twice that of King or Snohomish Counties— and the northbound stream of skilled workers commuting out of Pierce County to King County for work.
In Pierce County, lower-skilled positions in hospitality are growing at a faster rate than family-wage jobs in manufacturing, down 2.3 percent from last year. Skilled workers may have no choice but to seek work elsewhere, since Seattle boasts 57,490 jobs in computing to Tacoma’ s 2,624. And King County is home to over a third of the state’ s“ green” jobs, compared to Pierce County’ s 7.6 percent, according to the state’ s most recent Employment Security Department report.
Other coalition co-chairs include Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland, Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County CEO Bruce Kendall, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber CEO Tom Pierson, and Executive Secretary for the Pierce County Building Trades Council Mark Martinez.
Martinez calls the coalition“ the start of community outreach to talk to people and have this discussion about where we want to go as a community.”
The Place for Jobs isn’ t a marketing campaign, says cochair Pierson.“ It’ s a pretty organic effort to build support for an economically and environmentally sound business community. Too often, you hear only from the far left and the far right, and we want to connect those dots in the middle and give a voice to those who aren’ t being heard, those who care deeply about our environment but also know that jobs are vital to our region.”
joining forces
Pierson, Martinez and others began talking about the coalition a year ago, in the wake of the bitter regional debate around a proposed Tacoma methanol plant. Communication around the proposed plant, which promised to produce hundreds of jobs along with millions of tons of methanol in Tacoma, devolved into a feud between advocates for growth and those concerned about pollution.
Growth in and around the Port of Tacoma can be controversial because of mounting environmental concerns over water quality, wildlife and noise, says Martinez. Even
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