The number one economic issue in the country is still jobs. Should an unemployed person get excited when a local company is hiring, even if he or she doesn’t have the skills for jobs at that company? N.C. State University economist Mike Walden responds.

 

“Well, you should …, because jobs are interconnected. And I think that … your job search could be helped in two ways. Number one, although you may not have the skills for the jobs that are being hired in this new company, that new company may be buying products or services from other companies in the local economy suppliers. And so you may have the skills that would match some of the new jobs that would be generated in supplier firms. That would be one big piece of news for you.

 

“Second is that as a new company comes into a local economy and hire people, those people have extra income to spend. You’re going to see more spending at retail outlets. You’re going to see more spending in restaurants, and you may be able to get a job there.

 

“And in fact economists have found that for every job created by a new company coming into a local economy, there’s going to be between one and four jobs created in the local economy outside of that new company.