> “It’s a step back from where we were,” said Pat Morris, the former mayor, about the jobs that Amazon offers. “But it’s a lot better than where we would otherwise be,” he said.
That makes complete sense. /s It sounds like where you were was a city without jobs.
> San Bernardino is just one of the many communities across the country grappling with the same question: Is any new job a good job?
Yes, if you don't have a job then any job is a good job. Sentiments like this article is why people are "too good to work for McDonalds."
> The share of people living in poverty in San Bernardino was at 28.1 percent in 2016, the most recent year for which census data is available, compared to 23.4 in 2011, the year before Amazon arrived.
Something that can't be attributed to rising inflation? These are meaningless stats.
> Something that can't be attributed to rising inflation?
Sure, but probably a very particular type of inflation: housing cost. Wages for unskilled labor haven't increased at a rate to account for rising housing costs, exacerbated further by insufficient housing supply, and demand for housing has gone up due the increased number of jobs.
Median household income in San Bernardino is 39k/yr (pretax) [1]. Median rent is 16k/yr [2]. So the median household spends nearly 42% of their pretax income on housing. The other necessary expenses of life (especially if you are far below median income and have dependents) will quickly eat through the rest.
There is a dynamic at play in which several factors, including the increase in lower paid jobs and population, is increasing poverty rates.
That makes complete sense. /s It sounds like where you were was a city without jobs.
> San Bernardino is just one of the many communities across the country grappling with the same question: Is any new job a good job?
Yes, if you don't have a job then any job is a good job. Sentiments like this article is why people are "too good to work for McDonalds."
> The share of people living in poverty in San Bernardino was at 28.1 percent in 2016, the most recent year for which census data is available, compared to 23.4 in 2011, the year before Amazon arrived.
Something that can't be attributed to rising inflation? These are meaningless stats.
I didn't read the rest.