Where Have All The Young Folk Gone?

Brain Drain in Vermont

In a recent article in Vermont’s local WCAX News website, much was made about a report that stated the fact that the majority of Vermont’s young people are leaving the state after college or a year or two after their graduation and half of those are leaving due to the the lack of gainful employment.

The report — which surveyed nearly 3,000 Vermont college alumni — also shows that half of those who left the state did so for a job. They were influenced by the type of job and the salary. But most have stated an interest in coming back.

Source: Stopping Brain Drain

This is hardly a new thing. This has been going on ever since the late 60’s when the old traditional family farm first began to fail. The ability for the traditional Vermont farmer to make a living wage by doing things the way they had been done for generations past simply wasn’t cutting it any longer as “progress” began making the “old ways” obsolete. At least where making a decent living was concerned. And the younger generation was beginning to leave for “greener pastures” as it were. The call of “civilization” and all it had to offer was being heard and responded to.

And why did the other half leave? For anyone who knows this area or, as in my case, whose family hails from this beautiful state but was born and raised elsewhere, it’s obvious—There’s nothing here to keep a young man or woman from leaving. To be realistic about the whole thing, Vermont is a great place to come back to after that young person has gone off and seen the world so to speak and amassed the kind of experience that every man or woman needs to have under their respective belts before deciding what kind of settling down type of lifestyle they wish to pursue. In other words, once these “in their 20’s” type people have reached the age where they’re beginning to seriously consider picking an area where they would finally get down to the business of living, working and (maybe) raising a family. That moment in time when they start mulling over the question; “Okay, I’ve had my fun and seen my share of this world for the time being. Now…where do I want to spend the rest of my life?”

Of course, if that means coming back to the good old Green Mountain State, it also depends on whether or not it’s a viable option to leave whatever good paying, down country job they might have at the time. Even if they could find similar work up in these parts I can just about guarantee they’d take a significant pay cut. It’s simply due to Vermont still being a bit “behind the times”—even in the 21st century. The jobs still aren’t here so many of these folks, unless that rare opportunity presents itself, will most likely stay where they are, work their careers and raise their families in places where more is offered in way of close access to conveniences and a healthy variety of competitive wage type of employment offers. An area in which unfortunately, Vermont is still sorely lacking.

Then the article continues (take note of the highlighted text):

They found that Next Generation’s workforce will be made up of mostly skilled workers, only four percent will need more than a bachelors degree.

The report predicts that registered nurses, retail salespersons and home health aides will be in high demand in the next ten years.

The key now is to make a connection between those employers and folks who may want to move back to the Green Mountains.

“Making sure that the workforce that we attract and the workforce that comes here matches the employers needs that are here,” said Werneke.

Take a look at any local newspaper from south-central Vermont to the border of Canada, including both east and west portions of the state and that’s the majority of the employment ads you’ll see and every one of these are low paying. And yes, for the most part, that includes registered nurses also. I really don’t understand how the state of Vermont is going to come up with a way to keep our young people from leaving the state in the first place or getting them back if they’ve left already with such well paid offerings like retail salespersons (convenience stores) or home health aids for example ($7.25 to $8.00 per hour and you use your own car by jeezum!).

Like I said, Vermont is a great place to come back to and a lot of folks are finding their way back after they have raised their kids and seen them off into the world. At that point they probably can afford to settle for less in the way of a paycheck, especially with the cost of land/housing still being significantly lower than the lower portions of New England or even farther south. What you’d pay for what they call a cape style “salt box” in a decent neighborhood down in CT or MA for example would most likely cost you close to three times less up here with an additional 3 or 5 acres tossed in for good measure. Sell down there, buy up here and have a a nice view, good neighbors, cleaner air and a healthy profit left over to boot. Just that alone attracts a lot of folks back, unfortunately though, it’s not the youngsters who have already left and are still out seeing the world and beginning their careers.

Another type of people that are also coming into the state to settle down is what I call “the New Vermonter” although not all of them come to “farm” in the classic sense. This is the person or couple who decides to leave their native state and begin anew by buying an old rural vermont property and slowly rebuilding it into a working venture be it a type of farm, self employment or a combined venture of both. I have several acquantences who fit right into that catagory and it’s safe to say that these folks are here to stay. Of course that still doesn’t solve the problem of the exodus of young people.

Trying to attract this younger generation back into the state by finding ways to match them to the current, low wage employers is simply an excercise in futility. And the technological and just plain, simple convenience improvements and the businesses that would provide and maintain said improvements are being fought against by the some of the very people who are doing the complaining in the first place. Everybody wants it but as long as it’s not in their neck of the woods. The dreaded NIMBY syndrome: “Not-In-My-Back-Yard.

Until Vermont (which is a wonderful state to live in—for some), decides to allow these improvements into the state and stop belly-aching about the damage it’s going to do to the old Main Street, the same Main Street that hasn’t been viable for a couple decades now, or the imagined ruination of our scenic vistas and migratory patterns of birds (the great “wind towers on our mountain” hulabaloo), Vermont is going to continue to see the majority of our young people striking off on their own—elsewhere.

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