I heard another reason the other day why many of our young people leave town after graduating college.
I spoke with a business executive who was frustrated with one of his soon to be ex-employees. The employee had been working part time at the firm and had recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree.
The executive offered a full time job at the starting wage of $40,000 but the employee had been told by his professors that upon graduating he would be worth a minimum of $60,000 a year.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Duh. You have to have businesses that create $60K jobs and call centers are short on that. Of course, there’s always the public sector, El Paso’s career de jour.
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What has the city done to bring in higher paying jobs? (Or any jobs for that matter?) It seems to me that one of the major functions of city government is to make the pipeline from education to jobs seamless in a community. Didn’t our Mayor promise a “big corporation” would come to town if he were elected?
Lets face it: Unless your life’s ambition is to open a Mexican food restaurant or to become a telemarketer, your choices are pretty limited in this berg. I would leave too if I were young. The only real reason young people stay in El Paso is because of family ties. Once those ties are broken, there is little or nothing to hold them here.
Our city government treats bringing high paying jobs much like they do San Jacinto Plaza: Good idea, no or little execution.
We do indeed deserve better Brutus. We do indeed. Sadly, we don’t seem to be getting it because the people running the show are not concerned about the next generation.
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While a new graduate should certainly be able to anticipate a decent salary fresh out of school, I think sixty grand is extravagant even for Dallas or Houston. Starting pay? Really? What field is this, anyway? And, UTEP grad? I think this young man’s professors lied to him, and if starting salaries are so high in whatever field this was, how come they are teaching? Are UTEP salaries that high?
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If the student was in Computer Science or in Engineering it is easily over that amount. Also, if the student was in some type of specialized nursing program, it would hit that easily.
http://www.naceweb.org/s11182015/starting-salary-class-2015.aspx
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https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Hewlett-Packard-El-Paso-Salaries-EI_IE327.0,15_IL.16,23_IM265.htm
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John, nope, you’re out of touch. My son, a 24 year-old nuclear engineer is making well over 90k per year. Of course, not here in El Paso, but in Pennsylvania.
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/nuclear-engineers.htm
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Those Border Patrol checkpoints dont help either.
EVERY time you want to drive 100 miles. . . you have to risk going thru a Military style checkpoint (with automatic rifles on hand and Military dogs) and if you are Hispanic there is a larger chance of being stopped and illegally searched. People are TIRED of that.
If anyone in your car has any kind of “Illegal stuff/ paraphernalia” with them, everyone goes to jail.
Better search your kids before driving out of town and make sure someone didnt attach something inside your bumper with a magnet and are following you. . . . .to the next town/ gas station to remove it. . .
Even the Sheriff down in Van Horn/ Sierra Blanca gets in on the action and sets up his own roadblocks.
Searching many buses, band member’s cars, . . . well anyone the bigot Sheriff wants to search without a warrant . . .
If you “ACT NERVOUS or SWEAT” they will illegally search you without a search warrant.
WHO wants to be treated that way?
If you live in Dallas you can drive all the way to Florida’s Miami Beach without a Military Style checkpoint/ ( machine guns and dogs. . .,) , or drive to Chicago, without the risk of an illegal search.
And with “some cops/ anyone with a badge” going bad these days. . . shooting people “by mistake. . . in the back” and targeting minorities,. . . . WHO wants to live under Military Rule and illegal searches?
This is a boxed in community and once you feel the freedom . . .
of traveling inside your own country without Military Style checkpoints. . . you see what the freedom is like.
So, when a job. . . EVEN HINTS at being open outside of El Paso. . . they GO . . . . .
Even at the same salary.
People talk about AVOIDING El Paso on their trips and driving on the Northern Routes back and forth across the US, in their travel blogs because of all the Military Style checkpoints in and out of this area. They DISCUSS this amongst themselves.
It . . . IS . . a topic for travelers and their blogs.
And for those that have Medical MJ / Licensed in their own state, and prescribed by their own doctors. . . . and are carrying prescriptions with them, don’t want to be stopped or illegally searched by men with machine guns and dogs. . . .
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I put my stash in the trunk along with the Cubano and sail thru every time 🙂
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Many business owners are still living in the 70s where cheap labor, even degreed was the norm. If they want good help – pay for it ot they will go else where. Only relatives, alumni chums, and friends stay to get government jobs.
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Well and you have Monsanto opening a Cotten seed research center in Lubbock TX when the El Paso Valley was the cotton capital of TX. How did Frisco TX get 7000 executive jobs in Frisco Tx from California it is Toyots and a medical tech co with 500 jobs where is our economic development transporting across the bridges!!!! It has always been a fact you had to leave El Paso and come back to get s better paying job. When kids get to spend six weeks of a physics class in the Perot Physics museum studying would you want your kids to have that opportunity or duel language?
Sent from my iPhone
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Yes. . . when you leave El Paso and come back from a “Big City”, you are somewhat of an “expert” wink-wink . . . and can get a better job.
I know some people that LIVE in El Paso, but have a mailing address in Austin, (and elsewhere that commands bigger pay) so they will get paid more by others in the country (outside of El Paso.)
They will hire an “Expert” or ” Diagnostic or Systems Analyst” or “Business Consultant” from Austin, but NOT. . . from El Paso.
Check this out:
If you include on your Resume that you have been to / studied in/ exotic places you will generally get paid more, or hired first, over others that have been waiting for the same job.
Studied in Rome.
Studied in Paris and then London . . . .
“Business Consulting” in London and Ireland. . .
(Even if it is a LIE !)
ANYTHING. . . OTHER. . . than El Paso . . . .
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Monsanto opening a Cotton seed research center…
——————————————
Franken-cotton. It buttons your shirt for you.
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If I remember correctly didn’t the cotton market fall off in the 50’s? Which is when most area farmers switched to pecans…
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Many UTEP graduates are not highly qualified. In the workplace, graduates are expected to be able to write in complete sentences, have a decent vocabulary as well as knowledge in your field. Many UTEP graduates that have applied for a job at my company fail all three areas, particularly in written English. Additionally, they are given false expectations by someone at UTEP. Not sure its the professors but something is askew over there. Several that I’ve interviewed are more interested in having a business card, a private office and their name on the desk than what the job entails.
If you want higher pay, go to California where the cost of living will eat up the increase in salary.
It’s well known that El Paso does not have very many good jobs or job prospects but UTEP should do a better job of preparing students and giving them realistic expectations. Students should be told that there are limited opportunities for those studying Hispanic or Black history, graphic design, criminology, etc.
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And. . . . When they take a job in high rent/ high expense places. . . and get paid more. . . they also have to pay a higher PERCENTAGE in Income Taxes.
Its not. . . “just making more”, but actually losing a higher percentage of their income.
They have to earn more. . . because the government is going to TAKE MORE. (and in California, also pay State Income Taxes.)
I don’t think anyone ever sits these people/ graduates down and goes over the math/ the losses from earning more and living in a State with its own Income Tax.
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You are supposed to be able to read and write coming out of HS. UTEP is not alone in graduating functional illiterates.
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Despite we like to tell other people and ourselves, the cost of living in El Paso is not really much different than in many of the bigger cities where more opportunities exist and there are more companies willing to pay better.
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Can someone explain to me how local El Paso schools get away with claiming that the Pope’s visit to Mexico a safety risk for El Paso students and teachers and that schools must close due to the alleged safety risk? It seems like schools and other government institutions look for every excuse in the world to get more paid days off.
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Our family is the exception. We are not college educated so we don’t have some fancy high paying office job. We did work super hard to get to our current status. My wife and I make a combined salary of $120,000. She makes 80k with her company and I make $40k running my small business.
For years my wife’s company has tried to lure her away to Dallas. Offering her relocation packages and various bonuses. The last offered she received was a pay raise to $120,000, six months of free rent in the new city and a complete moving truck with workers.
Naturally I could start up my business in Dallas and easily double or even triple my income. We’ve had the opportunity to go from $120,000 annually to doubling our salary by moving to Dallas.
Our answer will always be no. We moved away from El Paso right after high school. We traded in college for hard labor.
The company my wife works for wanted to get into the El Paso market but was hesitant because they feared the market wasn’t here and they had no upper management that wanted to move here.
They took a chance on a uneducated worker and she has transformed the El Paso market into one of the best top selling markets in the country. I’m super proud of what my wife has accomplished. All while battling sexism and racism.
We are proud El Pasons and will never leave the comfort of home again. We have a beautiful big home, two young pretty ladies, and everything we could ever ask for. Why would trade that all in for some numbers on our bank account?
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It’s humorous that the city’s latest claim to economic development success is Allegiant Air, which is going to provide direct flights to just 2 cities, one being Las Vegas. We want to make it easier for locals to gamble more of their money away in Sin City.
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