The Air Force tanker deal is great news not only for the Boeing Co., but for the workers of Washington state and people right here in Snohomish County, where the tanker will be built.
We should celebrate the $35 billion tanker contract, the 11,000 jobs in our state — and the 50,000 jobs created in America.
However, there is more to do.
How do we ensure our local workers get hired for those jobs?
Here’s a truth that few people talk about: Thousands of jobs being created in Washington go to people from outside the state.
People are coming in from Florida, Texas and California to take skilled jobs that pay a great salary, with benefits that include health care and retirement. They’re jobs that the laid-off workers in our state would love to have.
Why is this happening? Because of the skills gap.
While our state has the nation’s highest SAT scores, and we have great universities, our workers don’t always have the right technical and science skills for the jobs available.
That leads to smart, talented people from Washington being overlooked for some of the best jobs in our own state. Many skilled workers are baby boomers and reaching their retirement age, and we must prepare the next workforce.
This is happening with jobs not only at Boeing, where they design and build the world’s best airplanes.
A plain-old college degree isn’t enough. To truly do something about unemployment in Washington state — to get our people back to work — we must take action to address this skills gap.
The new tankers for the Air Force that will be built in Snohomish County are a perfect example.
Boeing will need skilled workers to build those tankers. Right now, 56 percent of engineers at Boeing are 50 or older. The average retirement age is 62, though they’re eligible to retire at 55.
So we need to replace those skilled engineers with local people — and that means giving our local students and workers the opportunity to earn high-level research and engineering degrees.
How do we make sure our local people get those jobs?
Here’s how: by providing the people of Snohomish County, and Washington state, the opportunity to learn those skills not by traveling to Seattle, or packing up and moving to Pullman, but by earning their degree right here in Snohomish County, in Everett.
Closing the skills gap will automatically create more opportunities for those who are unemployed. We must close the skills gap by boosting the education and talents of our workforce here at home.
That’s why we are coming together, a Democrat and a Republican, to establish an aeronautical engineering program here in Snohomish County.
The best option is having a WSU Everett here that offers degrees in high-level engineering and aeronautical engineering.
It’s the option that has support in the Senate and the House, with Republicans and Democrats coming together to get something done. Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen should be applauded for her hard work to get this compromise through the Senate, and we thank all the business leaders, lawmakers and workers who are trying to get something done to bring more of these jobs home to the citizens of Snohomish County.
Yet this isn’t over. It will take a real effort to make this happen. If you care about this issue, take a second to e-mail your local government officials and the governor.
Tell them you want to get this done, not just to create jobs in Snohomish County and help Boeing hire more local workers, but to send a message. To show them that this global recession hasn’t gotten us down — that we will scrap and fight and work together, regardless of party labels or geography, to get things done for the people of Washington state.
Rep. Hans Dunshee (D-Snohomish) is chair of the Capital Budget Committee. Rep. Mike Hope (R-Lake Stevens) serves on the Education Appropriations Committee and earned his master’s degree at UW Bothell.
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