Archive for November 10th, 2008

From the Tucson Weekly article - HERE.

Pima County may have passed the 1 million mark in population, but more than two-thirds of U.S. counties have higher average wages. That disturbs some local leaders, while others believe the community is making progress toward changing the situation.

“When one-fourth of kids go to bed hungry in Pima County,” says Sandra Hinojos of the Community Food Bank, “people aren’t making enough wages.”

The story continues:

Tucson City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich represents many low-income families living in her northside ward and has worked in the social-service arena for many years. She is aware of the TREO process, strongly believes it must address the issue of local wage rates and has her own ideas about how this should be accomplished.

“As we’re trying to generate higher-paying jobs,” Uhlich says, “we can’t ignore those that employ large numbers of people, like retail and health care. … We need economic development that creates middle-income jobs.”

While Shaw indicates that service jobs will be covered in the TREO blueprint, Uhlich thinks the difficulty many low-pay employees have advancing beyond entry-level positions also needs to be considered. She fears some large-scale retailers, like Wal-Mart, are altering their employment practices to make it even more difficult for workers to get by and wants to see these issues, along with bringing higher-paying jobs to Tucson, discussed.

“I think our top goal should be to create a thriving middle class in Tucson,” Uhlich says about the next 10 years. “We can’t stand by and watch the work force earn low wages and the economic disparity in incomes widen. We have to see that diminish significantly.

“We have a 20 percent poverty rate in the city and a low unemployment rate,” Uhlich says. “That confirms our low wages, and we need to address that issue.”