By: Gary Knight - For the North County Times
Friday, March 9, 2007
Job creation is the bedrock of sustainable economic development. As meaningful jobs are created that provide above-average income, benefits and career opportunities, the impact ripples through the community with increased buying power and stability for families.
More jobs lead to educational successes, lower crime rate and greater awareness of the quality of life throughout the community. Without quality jobs, there is the potential for lower self-esteem, more idle time and a more stressful life, with related consequences.
Creating new and meaningful jobs is not easy.
Job creation is the result of appropriate businesses being started or recruited to San Diego North. New businesses are started regularly in our community. It is important for them that the markets for their products and services be clearly identified.
Will they produce goods and services for the expanding population of San Diego County? Or will they produce products that can be exported out of the area or internationally?
As I mentioned last month in the Economic Chatter column, we have a unique opportunity with the Chargers to have a dramatic impact on the economy of this area if the team is brought to Oceanside. The jobs and revenue that would be produced would be sustained over the next 30 years with hundreds of people being employed and businesses moving to North County.
In addition to job creation, there are other key elements of community development that affect economic stability. These include the education system, safety, an appealing environment, quality of the core area of the community, health care, transportation and traffic flow, and efficient parking.
In short, there is no separation between economic development and overall community development. One depends on the other. The San Diego North Economic Development Council is dedicated to stimulating discussion and finding ways to implement solutions for long-range economic stability in our community.
There are many aspects of economic development that have a collective impact upon our community. Subsequently, there is no one answer to the ongoing challenge of long-range development. We have several areas of focus that need to be addressed to ensure sustainable economic stability for individuals, families and businesses.
Next month, I will address health care. |
