At Weeks End
Perception oftentimes is more persuasive than reality.
That appears to be the case here and the rest of Allen County when folks rail about the economy being in the tank. It may not be a rose garden, but it’s not a thorn patch either.
Despite a county unemployment rate of 8 percent, job opportunities abound. Consider: Allen County has about 9,000 jobs, which require upward of 2,000 people a day to drive into the county to keep all the stems turning and wheels rolling.
Gates Corporation has about 700 people clocking in each day and Russell Stover Candies has 350. Herff-Jones, Cameron and Columbia Metal, the quiet company tucked away in Riverside Park, all have good compliments of employees. So do many smaller enterprises and retail businesses. USD 257 employs about 250. Add in health care and the numbers grow rapidly.
And jobs are calling.
Gates has a large advertisement in the Register each day seeking employees and in Thursday’s paper there were 11 other ads offering a variety of jobs.
The farm economy this year turned a little sour because of the prolonged drought and hot weather, but fact is practically every farmer has insurance that at least keeps his bow well above the water line. Also, the past few years have been good to agriculture, but farmers are far-sighted enough to know a bad year can be just around the corner. They plan accordingly and none tilling the soil today is on a hand-to-mouth budget.
Fuel prices are a nag, but we all can cope with that by being more parochial in our driving habits. Shop locally and help out your friends and neighbors, who own and work at the multitude of businesses that offer all the goods and services we need.
Don’t drive to the city to buy things you can buy here, and know that if something isn’t right, you can pop back in the next day for a quick and easy fix. Besides, who wants to deal with traffic, crowds and clerks who don’t know you from Adam.
