Job ‘opportunities’ in SLO don’t offer a livable wage
Your article on five job opportunities for San Luis Obispo County residents (Tribune, Sept. 4) provides the same lack of insight into how anyone who filled one of these positions would be able to afford housing in this county.
In an Aug. 16 article listing the 10 fastest-growing professions in the county, of the projected 2,580 jobs that will be needed by 2024, only 180 paid enough. For this latest listing of 6,840 positions, none paid enough to cover the cost of housing in this county.
So for the total number of positions — 9,420 — still only 180 cover housing costs, leaving 9,240 workers having to live outside the county and commute to and from work.
How about combining your job opportunity stories with real options as to how to get housing in SLO County for people who service the people of San Luis Obispo County?
SLO County does and will need people filling the 15 positions you describe, as well as many more you haven’t described. They will earn less than it takes to afford housing in this county. This is what the whole affordable housing crisis is about — people providing services here but unable to afford to live here in San Luis Obispo, the Gated County.
Gerry Finn, Paso Robles
This story was originally published September 9, 2017 at 1:48 PM with the headline "Job ‘opportunities’ in SLO don’t offer a livable wage."