Today, that isn't realistic or even feasible, Langner said. People are no longer sitting around waiting for jobs. But, they might be waiting for higher-paying ones. Not to worry, though, said Bill Ehrie, the Abilene Industrial Foundation chief instrumental in the Eagle and Blue Cross-Blue Shield coups. Ehrie said employment is a fluid condition.
Labor pools migrate about Texas and the United States, relieving market pressures.
Abilene has 6,000 more people employed today than the total number of people who had or were seeking work in January 1992. Then, Abilene had 51,700 in the total workforce and 7.4 percent unemployment. By February 1998, there were 58,000 people employed in Abilene, which now boasts a 3.8 percent unemployment rate. Ehrie said the preponderance of today's want ads are primarily for service jobs, jobs reputed to have low wages and offer no benefits. It is the nature of labor markets for people to move up the ladder and open positions on the bottom to those entering the workforce.