On Monday, Lewis Whitfield of the CREATE Foundation spoke to the Starkville Rotary Club about the challenges facing our region. He focused on three critical areas: poverty, education and employment, which together continue to keep our communities lagging far behind not just the nation, but other parts of the state.
The most disturbing data Whitfield offered came from a report on the area’s labor force provided to the Golden Triangle Development LINK by Policom Corporation. It was disturbing on two fronts.
First, the report goes beyond to the regular unemployment data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to show a more accurate picture of joblessness in our area, based on 2012 figures.
In 2012, there were 5,975 people in the Golden Triangle who were considered unemployed by the BLS, But according the report, another 34,056 were simply not looking for work. Such people are not factored into the unemployment rate.
If those figures are correct, four of every 10 people of working age in the Golden Triangle did not work in 2012.
The second disturbing aspect of the report was probably unintentional, yet it reveals another aspect of the problem we face in this area — we’ve simply written off a large part of the population.
In the preface to the data, the report stated:
“The combination of poor education and an entitlement-based culture has caused a large percentage of working age individuals to not participate in the workforce.”
It is too easy — not to mention counter-productive — to simply dismiss our state’s crippling poverty by making this kind of argument. If we accept “entitlement-based culture” as a permanent and unresolvable condition, we have created a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In doing so, we are simply saying, this is the way it is and there is nothing more to be done. We have not fought poverty, we have rationalized it and accepted it as a permanent condition.
Poverty is a complex problem, requiring honest, thoughtful, effective approaches on a broad range of fronts.
We can do better and we must, because poverty affects us all, either directly or indirectly.
Who are these people? What are their stories? What prevents them from taking their place as productive members of our society? What can we do to help?
Those are the questions we should be asking.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.