Employee relocation Employ generations of factory workers
Employee Relocation
In America there are some regions that are suffering because the economy has changed significantly in the last few decades and nowhere can I find a better example than the “Rust Belt” When America was able to employ generations of factory workers there was a core group of cities that earned the name Rust Belt. The area is defined roughly by the Midwest and the Northeast regions of the United States.
The cities include but are not limited to:
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Detroit, Michigan
Flint, Michigan
Cleveland, Ohio
These cities were defined by their enormous capacity to build what America needed and when there were less expensive alternatives other countries gained manufacturing jobs. Since the 1970’s the cities mentioned above slowly stopped producing the same rate of steel and cars…the material output and the less expensive manpower led to volatility…and the automation combined with America’s recession during the oil crisis led to a crippling loss of jobs.
My story of the Rust Belt is not from a manufacturing standpoint but from a residential standpoint…it is a small story of why I love the Midwest and the Northeast.
In Pittsburgh I lived in the shadow of 3 Rivers Stadium, home of the 1970’s Super Bowl Pittsburgh Steelers…the neighborhood was called Manchester and it was an older part of town where people lived for generations…the streets were old and full of potholes but you would never see trash. People would wash their portion of the sidewalk and people would stay on their porches and visit with each other and when someone would walk by there was a hearty hello.
The community was stable and it mattered that people knew each other…they knew who was working where…and who wasn’t working…there was a strong responsibility to one another…and if you didn’t have a job people would trade services and barter…if you knew how to fix a car you would perhaps get a case of beer…if you were poor but still had a car you could give someone a ride to the store and get paid with a half bag of groceries paid for by your passenger’s food stamps.
The economy was their own..it worked because it was created by the need for innovation and desire to get needs met.
My neighbors knew where I worked, what my interests were, when I wanted to talk and when I wanted to be left alone…not because I told them…but because we paid attention to each other’s behavior…or they volunteered information about their own life which made me want to disclose about my life.
Pittsburgh is not famous for steel mills nowadays…it seems like if one wanted to tour the outlying areas of where the mills were they would see just how prominent the industry was…but now Pittsburgh has reinvented itself and it is enjoying yet another renaissance. It is not important what industries they are known for now…what is important is that they did not pack up and surrender…they reinvented themselves and invested in their new dreams.
They are a great example of how to go from survival….and then thriving. I want that for me and others. "Employee relocation" written by Ken Bownes
