She Said, He Said: Jobs in Jefferson County

The following is the fifth entry in “She Said, He Said,” a new series of articles seeking to compare and contrast the various views, political, social or otherwise, of Millennials in today’s world. Elizabeth Lane is a 2016 Carson-Newman University graduate with a BA in Creative Writing, and has worked at the Jefferson County Post as a journalist and feature writer since shortly before her graduation. Jake Depew is a 2014 Carson-Newman University graduate with a BS in Philosophy. He is the assistant editor and a columnist for the Jefferson County Post, and is the Editor for the Gatlinburg Daily Post.

This article’s question: “Job availability in Jefferson County is a hot topic. Do you think there is a problem? “

Elizabeth Lane

She Said…

It is no secret that Jefferson County, and Dandridge in particular, has been successfully marketed and continues to be marketed as a retirement community. What happens when you are one of the many young adults and kids that have lived in the county your entire life and the time comes when you must now decide on a career, or even where you should raise a family? What do you do if your hometown suddenly seemingly has no career options?

As someone who has grown up in Jefferson County, my entire life I know that people around here are not in favor of infrastructure changes. The biggest changes that we have seen over the past ten to fifteen years is the addition of some red lights in the middle of town and outside of the high school intersection. People like the ideal small town charm that this section of the East Tennessee has to offer. I get that.

However, I do not understand how the county is going to grow if we don’t at least offer a little bit of change for future generations. It is no secret that, in almost every case, people my age and beyond have to look outside the county for work. Staying within the county and working is a not an option unless you happen to want to work in certain restaurants and local businesses. If that is your ambition, then by all means go for it. But what about people who want to work outside of this paradigm, or in an industry that has no foothold in the area?

I say incentivise industry coming into the area and providing some job variety for the citizens of the county. Step outside of the box and try something new and maybe provide new opportunities and revenue. This might bring some of our favorite hometown heroes home and make them stay. If they have a means to take care of themselves and their families that is heavy incentive. Many people want to stay in the area, they just feel like they can’t afford to.

I think my generation is attracted to cities like Knoxville, Asheville, ect. because there are new and exciting opportunities there. They have a way to advance themselves in industries with future growth potential and network to the career that they want. I’m not saying that we should transform Jefferson County into a bustling urban center; that is doubtful to happen and would eliminate the unique charm that makes the area so attractive as a home. However, if they want to keep up with younger generations they may want to consider emulating the revitilization of these cities.

For many of us, we will eventually will have to say goodbye to Jefferson County as far as job advancement goes, unless we are one of the lucky few who find a true calling in something that we love or need to do within the county, or unless the area places some more emphasis on a bit of growth and expansion. Only time will tell the solution to this issue, but we need to keep the issue in mind. It is understandably easy to understate the need for this development in a “retirement community.”

In the meantime, the rest of us will continue to do our best while living here, which often means having a collective work life balance, working outside of the county and having to commute back to our charming hometown. Here we have our family and friends but no plan to keep them here. I admit I don’t know exactly what should be done: this is a tough issue that involves possibly changing the whole direction and image of the county. But something should be done.

Jake Depew

He Said…

Jobs are always a tricky topic to tackle, since the creation of jobs often necessitates a community-wide movement or changing of thought. Nowadays there’s a lot of talk about how we can bring jobs to Jefferson County, since so many of our residents work out of Knoxville or Hamblen County. One side of the argument says we need jobs to keep the younger generations from leaving. Another side says that Jefferson County, especially Dandridge, is a retirement destination for a reason and that we shouldn’t fight what makes the area great.

I agree with both points, and I can’t figure out why people see the two arguments as incompatible.

Jefferson County has something going for it that most areas would kill for: it’s a tourist destination. We have people come through the area all the time (in some seasons more than others, of course) to see our numerous historical sights, go for a lakeside vacation, and use our county as a causeway into Gatlinburg, A.K.A, The Town That Got An ‘A’ In Marketing Class. Seriously, they’re like the Vatican of Southern Charm, and we’d be insane not to use that free advertising. Even if we weren’t a historic town, we’d get trickle traffic from them.

There’s, ultimately, two ways I can see this county gaining jobs in the quantities that people are wanting. First, we can become a discount Hamblen County. We try and try to attract industries and corporations to the areas, make way for a few factories, and maybe strip mall our way into the radar of some Knoxville or Morristown residents who will come into Jefferson City to buy things. Jefferson County doesn’t have the population to become a major urban center off workforce alone, and most industrial forces aren’t going to pass up perfectly good land in the surrounding area. Sure, some might have some demographic goals on paper and throw us a bone, but not in the quantities we’re looking for.

Now we come to the second option, where we throw the full weight of the county behind attracting tourism, all the while playing up the connection between Gatlinburg and Dandridge. We’ll never reach that juggernaut status, but we are, to millions of tourists across the globe (yes, globe, not nation), a suburb of Gatlinburg. It’s time we start acting like it. There a very vocal faction in the county who want to keep the area’s charm. They don’t want massive industrial change, and it is easy to see why. But compromise comes somewhere. Tourism plays up the charm the area already has. There’s no reason we shouldn’t have bars in the area, hotels along the lake, stores that stay open past 6 p.m., or any other hallmark of a town that knows how to market itself. We need the night life that can whet the appetites of every tourist who wants to spend money, which is all of them, by the way. I’m not saying you do anything to jeopardize the town’s historical status. We need that. But you do literally everything possible to draw people in. Jefferson City will benefit from all of this, too. We should pave the road with tourist attractions right to their front door and turn it into a real college town. We have the perfect setting to make tons of money, and I’m not sure why we’ve decided not to use it. You may not want to go to a bar, but you do want your kids to go to a school system that is well-funded. There’s no shortage of jobs in a tourist town. At the very least you will come a long way towards employing your own population. For those looking for a retirement area, you now live in a financially secure county that can support entirely new luxury infrastructure and services.

The only thing stopping us from starting to move in a profitable direction that was practically handed to us is our own unwillingness to act.