[Vision2020] Boise Prime for New Grads

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (May 23, 2006) Spokesman Review -

What Moscow NEEDS is commercial growth that includes careers, the kind of
careers shoe minimum qualifications go beyond an applicants ability to stock
shelves or the ability to smile while asking customers, "Would you like
fires with that?"

Perhaps what Moscow NEEDS is to expand the Alturas Techno Park.

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Boise prime for new grads 
Unemployment rate about 3 percent
Associated Press 
May 23, 2006

NAMPA, Idaho - Recent high school and college graduates in southwest Idaho
will enter a job market that officials say is one of the best they've seen
for job seekers in more than three decades.

"The local job market is really pretty good for people who just graduated,"
said Dick Rapp, director of the Career Center at Boise State University. "We
actually get complaints from employers saying they can't fill their
positions because the competition is so strong (for workers).

"We'd rather have that complaint than the opposite one," he said.

The area has had an unemployment rate of about 3 percent since late last
year. About 1,000 of the 9,000 people who tried to get a job in April found
one almost immediately.

"Three percent is really incredible," economist John Panter of Idaho
Commerce and Labor told the Idaho Press-Tribune. "If you're looking for a
job, there's a job out there. They might not always meet the criteria you're
looking for, but the jobs are there."

Emily Gillman is scheduled to finish her graduate studies this summer and
has already landed a job at Prospect Elementary in Meridian.

"It was easy for me, but I worked really hard," she said. "And I had a
marketable niche."

Panter said college graduates can expect to make from about $13 an hour for
a teacher to about $30 for an engineer. Nurses, skilled construction
workers, and civil engineers all have opportunities.

"There are jobs available," Panter told the Associated Press on Monday. "But
there's also a lot of competition."

He also said skilled construction workers are in demand, especially welders.

Among high school graduates, Panter said summer jobs in the $7 to $9 range
per hour are available, with dependable workers getting up to $10 an hour
doing construction.

"If they're willing to work and get after it there are some good
opportunities out there," Panter said.

Travis Guy is set to graduate from Albertson College of Idaho in early June.
A Colorado native, he has already landed a job with Rocky Mountain National
Park in Colorado to supervise environmental and wildlife research.

"It will give me great experience in research and also supervising," said
Guy, who is considering graduate school. "Employers look to see if you've
had previous experience and if that fits the needs (of the employer)."

Alex Zamora is scheduled to graduate from Albertson College next month with
degrees in politics, economics, theater and history. He's started applying
for event coordinator jobs in the Boise area, and said he hopes some
part-time experience he's had will pay off.

"I think that's why it's so hard for graduates to get jobs," he said. "The
most applicable part is the experience you can bring to the table."

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho


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"Are the "alternative" schools really all that accelerated? Aren't they just
normal? I think it would be more accurate to describe the conventional
schools as RETARDED. (Not necessarily in all caps, of course.)"

- CD Witmer (May 18, 2006)

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