Cape workers pay price for staying put-CCOnline
Published on Monday, December 15, 2008
From Cape Cod Online - Click here for full story
By Aaron Gouveia
Jobs and money.
The shortage of employment opportunities and the high cost of living are the two main reasons a third of the Cape's young workers expect to move away from the region within the next five years, according to a survey released by the Cape Cod Young Professionals last month.
Whether unemployed, underemployed or commuting for hours in each direction, many young people are frustrated when it comes to working on Cape Cod.
Existing workers are leaving for pastures where they can earn more money, while potential residents choose not to move here because of the scarcity of jobs.
The Cape's largest employers include Cape Cod Healthcare, Otis Air National Guard Base and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Many young people here hold service jobs, with salaries that make it difficult to afford the area's high cost of living.
Roughly 80 percent of the Cape's 97,000 workers have jobs in the service industry, which includes health care, retail, hotel, food preparation and construction positions.
Easier off the Cape?
Ashley Granger, 28, knows all too well the vital correlation between jobs and housing for young people.
Granger works at the Housing Assistance Corp. in Hyannis, where she helps find suitable housing for low-income families.
Yet, even as someone whose job requires her to find people a place to live, Granger said she and her husband have struggled personally.
Granger makes $30,000 a year, while her husband is working to get a fledgling landscaping business off the ground.
They live in a one-bedroom, in-law apartment in Centerville, paying $1,000 a month in rent. She said living in someone else's home is the only way she — and many of her friends — manage to get by.
Right now, the love of her job is the main thing keeping her on the Cape. She said she'll likely have to pick up a second job to make ends meet and knows life would be easier off the peninsula.
"I absolutely do think I could make more money off-Cape," Granger said.
She said she'd love to stay in her position and work her way up the ladder, but job openings are few and far between because people usually don't leave a job on the Cape once they find one that suits their needs.
In addition, Granger said there's barely enough room in their apartment for their dog, nevermind a baby.
"We wouldn't be able to start a family even if we wanted to here," she said.
Dave Fish knows that feeling.
The 29-year-old former Falmouth resident spent the last several years commuting to a job in Boston, and then working as an assistant store manager at Windfall Market in Falmouth.
But he realized there was no room for upward mobility at his job, and going back to commuting more than an hour each way was not an option after becoming a father last year.
So he moved his family to South Carolina. Fish is now employed by an upscale supermarket chain, with the possibility of becoming a store manager just several years away.
He also owns a brand-new home, which would not have been a possibility on Cape Cod, Fish said.
Quality of life
These problems are ones that Rick Presbrey, director of the Housing Assistance Corp., sees every day.
Presbrey was 31 when he moved to the Cape in 1974. He had three children under the age of 5 and made a "moderate salary" of $14,500 a year, he said.
The difference between now and then, Presbrey said, is the cost of housing. He paid $28,800 for his first home, but someone making a moderate salary of $55,000 today would have to shell out approximately $275,000 for a single-family home.
And while Presbrey put down roots here and helped create more than 250 jobs pumping millions into the local economy over the years, young people today have very few of those opportunities available.
"The 31-year-old version of me is not moving here to add value to the Cape," Presbrey said.
That may be why, with so few jobs on the Cape, many young people who are still clinging to the region have taken jobs that require lengthy commutes.
Dave Sullivan, 32, works for the state Department of Transitional Assistance in Boston. Before that, he was employed by Citizens Bank and commuted from Sandwich to Medford and East Providence.
He takes the bus to work, and said the ride ranges from one hour and 15 minutes on a good day to more than two hours during bad weather or an accident.
After he bought a house six years ago, Sullivan said he tried to look for a job closer to home to no avail.
"When I was with Citizens I looked a little on the Cape but the few jobs I found that might've met my skill set, I never heard back from," he said. "When there's an opening on the Cape the competition is so fierce."
It's tempting, he said, for him and his fiance to think about selling their home and buying a multifamily house in Boston closer to work.
The idea of being able to walk to a restaurant, take public transportation to visit friends and order takeout food after 9 p.m. is tempting, but Sullivan said it's all about priorities.
"There are sacrifices you have to make and right now what's most important to me is quality of life," Sullivan said. "Having a nice, peaceful existence on Cape Cod when you get home is worth it."
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