JOHN SPAULDING: We must embrace the jobs at Kern County's doorstep
The consequences of Wall Street's Great Recession continue to hit Kern County with serious ferocity. The unemployment rate stands above 15 percent -- fully 60 percent above the national average. In my industry, construction, unemployment rates are even higher, hovering around 20 percent. The underemployment rate in California, which includes workers who have slipped into the underground economy, as well as those who are seeking full-time work but can only find part-time jobs, currently exceeds 22 percent. This is an outright crisis for our community. Projections from the Congressional Budget Office show very little improvement over the next few years in the unemployment rate nationally. Luckily, Kern County and California can start to turn this dire situation around, because we are about to begin building high-speed rail.
More than $6 billion in federal grants and voter-approved state funds have already been committed for the first stretch of high-speed rail track between Merced, Fresno and Bakersfield. In less than a year, these funds will begin creating a large number of quality construction-related jobs right here in Kern County. Over the five-year duration of construction of this first segment, more than 100,000 jobs will be generated, many of which will be in our county.
Incredibly, there are still skeptics out there that say we can't afford to begin the high-speed rail project. High-speed rail opponents have a laundry list of criticisms, but do they have any solutions to the county's unemployment crisis? No. Rather than embracing jobs at our doorstep, they continue to parrot the nonsense that high-speed rail will bankrupt us. You wouldn't know it listening to the loudest politicians these days, but Kern Country has for generations benefited from state and federal infrastructure projects like the aqueducts and freeway project that brought fresh water and new customers from other parts of the state to the southern Central Valley.
The fact is, high-speed rail is the only project on the horizon that will create the large number of jobs we need to make a significant dent in our appalling unemployment rates. Therefore, we can't afford not to start high-speed rail. The choices are quite clear. We begin construction now, or we let other states take our high-speed rail money and our jobs. It is baffling to me that there is even a debate about the economic benefits of high-speed rail for our county.
If we have the courage to act, Kern County will find itself the single greatest beneficiary of high-speed rail in California. By far, more track will be laid here -- well over 100 miles -- than in any other county. The project will greatly improve access to Bakersfield, tying our economy to the large urban centers around California. It will also begin to help clear our horribly polluted air. High-speed rail is the greatest infrastructure project in California history, and Kern County is uniquely positioned to take full advantage.
When I was first starting my career a good many years ago, I worked on two large public infrastructure projects -- Interstate 5 and the California aqueduct. As is the case with the high-speed rail project, Interstate 5 started here in the Central Valley before extending to Sacramento and Los Angeles years later. Yet no one would dismiss its importance to California today. Likewise, I see in the California high-speed rail project an opportunity for the next generation to get its start, building the future of transportation within our state. Now is the time to embrace the American tradition of doing what's right for our communities and our future.
John Spaulding is executive secretary of the Building & Construction Trades Council for Kern, Inyo and Mono counties.
