As any of the readers from my home area know, I live in a highly industrial area which is losing jobs by the week. The economic history of this area is based on paper manufacturing, it's one of the world leaders in this area. Paper mills are the leading provider of jobs, heck, my school mascot is called the "Papermaker" and supposedly named after the wasp that helps do something in the papermaking process. Yet we also know that this area of the economy has been in a sharp decline of late, leading to a stagnating economy in the Fox Valley. Fortunately we have been diverse enough to hold us over for the time and we do possess a highly skilled labor force, but I still see a dim outlook for the future.

I have a deep empathy for those losing their jobs, one's job all too often ties in to who they are, and with the loss of a job comes a loss of one's self esteem to a degree I cannot even imagine. It also affects the kids at school (I'm had countless students talk about their mother or father
losing their jobs) which disheartens me even more.

But herein lies the problem, and it was spoken perfectly be a letter to the editor in our local paper, though seeking the prove the other side. The author writes, "Almost half of the employees at Glatfelter are age 55 or older. Many of them started working right out of high school and have no technical skills that employers are now looking for."

I could not have said it better myself. Americans need to learn something and learn it quick. First, we are pricing ourselves out of the global marketplace. How can businesses afford to pay Americans $18-$25 an hour plus benefits when they can go to India or countless other countries and pay $1 an hour (which as Jeffrey Sachs notes in "The End of Poverty" is an adequate wage which helps pull the Indian people out of poverty)?

Second, as Clinton noted during his presidency (at least to my understanding), Americans can no longer rely on the manufacturing sector to provide a living for their family. Sure, there will always be those jobs, but to think one will leave high school and find a job that they can
keep until they retire will be rare if at all existent. We need to continue to receiving training, broaden and improve our job skills, and be flexible in the market.

I know that even my profession of teaching will bring its ups and downs, therefore I am always seeking further training, making connections in other areas of the economy, and preparing in case somethind would happen to my job (and being a non-core teacher, I know I'm always one budget cut away from being unemployed). We all must do that, and it becomes even more important for those in fields where the market fluctuates at an unpredictable pace.