While the United States is uncomfortably experiencing a general economic crisis, the good news in Chattanooga is that we are on the verge of an industrial boom.
Jobs are the key to local economic comfort for our people. And we are having more jobs coming to Chattanooga.
We are eagerly watching progress on the new Volkswagen plant that will bring a couple of thousand jobs directly, plus many more by suppliers and others serving the people who will be producing new Volkswagens here.
And not far from the heart of downtown Chattanooga, Alstom, the big France-based manufacturer of steam and gas turbines, is adding several hundred more people to the 600 it already employs in the city.
“These are very high-quality jobs,” according to Stephane Cai, the managing director of the turbine facility. The average annual salary for the new jobs will be $75,000, officials say.
Good business invites more good business.
Chattanooga long has been economically successful because it has had a great variety of manufacturing, commerce and tourism, not being dependent upon just a single type of industry on which the local economy may rise or fall.
Chattanooga long has offered a congenial atmosphere for economic diversity — and is on the brink of even more.
We want our community to be perceived as a friendly place, welcoming enterprise with a cooperative attitude, that produces good results for enterprising investors, and with good and productive workers who contribute to mutual success.
Chattanooga is “on the move” even in a slow economy. All of our people should do everything we can to make enterprisers successful, assuring economic advantages for everyone.