New Jobs Are the Seed for Future Growth

Now that we're in the middle of the political season one only has to turn on the television or open a newspaper to see the attention being given to jobs. One thing, however, is for sure to sustain the health of our regional economy and protect our high quality of life, we need jobs and we need more of them.

For those of us concerned about job creation, and that should be all of us, recent announcements in the Kansas City region bring great hope. There are currently $3 billion in projects either already under construction or under development throughout the region. These projects have the potential to create thousands of good-paying jobs for people throughout the eighteen-county Kansas City region.

The electricity that will be needed to build these projects, as well as operate and manage them has to come from somewhere. Recently, Kansas City Power & Light. They proposed a comprehensive framework of initiatives that could include the construction of a state-of-the-art power plant in Platte County, Missouri. Not only could KCP&L's proposed framework help ensure adequate power supplies in the future for our fast-growing area, but this plant could mean up to 1,000 construction jobs at peak times of activity, and 50 to 100 permanent jobs with an average salary of $68,000 once the plant is completed.

This proposal could boost regional job growth significantly. In addition to direct employment, every construction job supports another 2.35 jobs in the Kansas City regional economy, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (USBEA). Every full-time electric utility job supports another 3.67 jobs in the Kansas City metro economy, according to USBEA statistics.

This proposal could also create a tremendous "ripple effect" of other economic benefits. The people who end up with the jobs tend to spend more at local restaurants and stores. Every dollar of construction payroll generates three to seven dollars in regional economic activity. In addition, these kinds of projects make the community an attractive place for other businesses to expand or relocate. The addition of world-class downtown attractions coupled with affordable, reliable power supplies will make our area even more competitive when it comes to attracting economic development in the future.

Creating jobs is a critically important way of keeping our regional economy healthy and growing. Why shouldn't we support proposals that ensure affordable, reliable power supplies for our growing region and which also create jobs for hardworking citizens.