Voices

Without good jobs, young people will flee our area

As a recent college graduate, with many of my friends and classmates struggling with unemployment, I consider myself fortunate to be employed.

I consider myself even more fortunate, as well as privileged, to be employed by such a company as Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee.

I have been a lifelong resident of Hinsdale. While it is clear that this area is not, and has not, experienced tremendous business growth and is thus not attractive to young people seeking to start their careers, it is even more clear that unemployment rates for college graduates are at an all-time high.

Pair those two statistics, and it is obvious that young people will migrate toward the cities and suburbs where business is booming, far away from southwestern New Hampshire and southeastern Vermont.

The job I have here enables me to honor my modest monthly bills, which include three student loans as well as a car and insurance payment. I have also been able to build my savings account for the first time. I strongly believe that this is the best employment opportunity available to me in this area.

I know I'm not alone when I say that if I were to lose my job here at Vermont Yankee, I would leave the area.

I am just one person, and if I were the only one, the change would hardly be noticeable. If 650 other people left for the same reason, that change wouldn't go unnoticed.

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