Jackson Jambalaya

Mississippi is "leaving jobs on the table" because young people don't want to work....they don't want those jobs, and they don't want to stay in Mississippi. The numbers prove it....not matter how much you want to promote a bogus campaign of propaganda that distracts away from how the Department of Education (MDE) is financially raping the citizens of Mississippi.

^^^^^^^What they said! But we sold our souls 40 years ago when we failed to properly maintain skills training. We , excuse me, they being the new middle class thought that a blue collar job was a disgrace. Well, guess what? I currently employee an electrical engineer and a civil engineer and I own a construction company. These men don’t even work in their relative field. And they make more that’s they would in their respective fields. Our state is being raped and pillaged by the department of education and for some unknown reason we keep allowing it. 50 years ago my dad could hire someone off the street and put them to work with little to no knowledge of our type of work, yet he found a way to properly administer the training needed to meet the needs of that day. Why? People then wanted to work, were raised to work and would work.

I'm 50 year old and work a dead end job. Jobs in Mississippi suck. The only jobs are available are service job like working fast food, pushing a broom, pushing boxes, or cleaning a shit hole restroom. I can see why young people are leaving this state. democrats and republicans are both to blame.

Right! Blame your lack of success on politicians. I tired of working for other people, and at age 59 I started my own business. In one year my income doubled and in two years tripled.

I am now retired with our home paid off in Madison.

But, you can't be afraid of taking risks. Your destiny is solely in your hands, no one elses.

Wake up, 8:07. You're dead-ass wrong. One would think a 50 year old would be minimally aware of the job openings and the jobs that will soon go begging for trained craftsmen. The press, job sites, JuCo sites and many links pointing to the need for trained craftsmen and skilled trades are everywhere waiting for you to read up.

Sure, there are (and probably always will be) abundant job opening needs in the service industries; but, you're totally overlooking a hundred thousand opportunities that are and will be out there. At 50, if you're working a dead end job, it's your own fault.

I believe the primary 'problem' with 'everybody going to college' is the parents who push in that direction out of a sense of ignorance and keeping up with relatives, neighbors and their social peers.

Mississippi is one big Ponzi scheme......the largest employer is "government". So if you stay, it comes down to who you know to get a well-paying state job, and chase that pension. At the very least (literally) you can get a K-12 teaching job....but you DO NOT want one because you have to grovel and play the game of silence or you're gone. Economic inbreeding is all it is, and it's thick and corrupt with no opportunity for advancement unless you destroy someone else.

Well, 6:35. You sound angry. While you suggest that 'who you know' can get you a 'well paying state job' (really?) you then say 'you don't want one of those teaching jobs. You're reasoning is circular at best and hokey at worst.

I've worked in both public and private sector and retired from both. I've known thousands of people in the private sector without degrees who made and are making a lot more than thousands with degrees. And none of it involved corruption or who someone knows.

Machinists, CNC operators who punch buttons and turn knobs on million dollar pieces of equipment, engineering aids, twenty year assemblers, mechanics, skilled maintenance workers, facility managers, material planners, lead shipping personnel, quality dispatchers, plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians....none of those requires a college education and all are and have been open to and within reach of anybody with drive and determination and the guts to stick with it until fully trained. All that's required is goal setting and drive.

You've no doubt shot your was already with that attitude, so it's too late for you. But, it's NOT too late for every ninth grader in a classroom in this state.

@ December 27, 2019 at 9:44 AM

I've worked in both public and private sector and retired from both. I've known thousands of people in the private sector without degrees who made and are making a lot more than thousands with degrees. And none of it involved corruption or who someone knows.

You basically contradict yourself while trying to talk about 6:35am. If you know thousands of people, it's safe to assume by having a network with big you received opportunities from that network.

While I agree, you can make good money without going to college, I am not going to piss on Mississippians that do make the effort to get a college degree to make themselves more marketable for more advanced work than plumbing and HVAC? I am sorry, its honest work - but everyone doesn't want to work in sh*t!?

Here's another tidbit about the Mississippi's "Workforce". Yeah, there are plenty of engineering aids, facility managers, material planners that are working with only a high school diploma, hell I'll go so far as saying just a 9th-grade education, but they usually are grandfathered in due to a connection. They were trained to do a task and if they were to lose that job today, they wouldn't be able to function outside of that one job.

While other states are combating inequity in their workforce, Mississippi is running away from it trying to pretend its not an issue. Eventually, one of these major employers will get hit with a class action suit and it's going to get very ugly.

I am not a Tate Reeves fan, but I will give him credit for pushing The Skills Foundation initiative. It's a day late and a dollar short, but you gotta start somewhere.

The smart, ambitious young people who have been lucky enough to get an education look around and recognize that Mississippi has so little to offer compared to more progressive areas. Those too poor and poorly educated to take advantage of better opportunities remain here. A family with a profitable franchise has a good chance of keeping some of their kids here where they can be seemingly big fish in a little pond but they are the exception to the rule.

So we have an ever widening gap of poor, poorly educated and unambitious young adults compared to those hoping to find success and hope to correct that situation by allowing public schools to continue to spiral downward taking the state to 3d world status. That's the genius of Mississippi's voters.

According to the State website, mississippiworks.org, our state has 53,200 jobs that able-bodied people do not want.

When the unemployed (we are # 2 for highest UC in the nation at 5.6%) turn down a job, their UC benefits should be stopped.

1:57 - I fail to see the contradiction. Please point it out. Yes, thousands and have hired hundreds in these situations. Forty Three years of steady professional work in public and private sector, allows one to interact with thousands of applicants and co-workers.

You're probably right that 'everyone doesn't want to work in shit'. That's why you find degreed people selling phones at C-spire, selling Hondas, writing wills and handling house closings for $55 thou a year, working nights at the package store and working at a friend's boutique six days a week....instead of 'working in shit' for $80k to $100k a year.

@9:44am Well, no hate OR anger....only observations. Shad White has stated the way to improve government is to:

1) Find improper spending

2) Stop the hidden honeypot that makes insiders $$$ @ the expense of taxpayers

3) Hold folks accountable

4) Cut taxes of citizens until we figure out if service is needed

5) Have an expert tell if gov’t needs to do this

He seems to have reservations about TRULY finding out about what's going on that cripples Mississippi.

"When the unemployed (we are # 2 for highest UC in the nation at 5.6%) turn down a job, their UC benefits should be stopped."

Agreed. I'll gladly pay taxes to help out someone who can't work, because that might be me some day.

As for someone who wont's work, they're on their own.

Here's more from the lettuce head up in the bleachers who believes everybody gets a job or promotion because of who they know.

"Yeah, there are plenty of engineering aids, facility managers, material planners that are working with only a high school diploma, hell I'll go so far as saying just a 9th-grade education, but they usually are grandfathered in due to a connection. They were trained to do a task and if they were to lose that job today, they wouldn't be able to function outside of that one job."

You have absofuckinlutely no idea what you're talking about, but I'll defend your right to be ignorant all day long. Please carry on.

@ 8:22am Triggered much? Yes, and without question - thousands wouldn't wouldn't have a chance outside the state of Mississippi because their family wouldn't "know" anyone to help clinch a position. Your response clearly demonstrates you full well know there's more than a grain of truth in this.

Thank you @ 6:28am

@ December 30, 2019 at 6:28 AM


Here's more from the lettuce head up in the bleachers who believes everybody gets a job or promotion because of who they know.

"Yeah, there are plenty of engineering aids, facility managers, material planners that are working with only a high school diploma, hell I'll go so far as saying just a 9th-grade education, but they usually are grandfathered in due to a connection. They were trained to do a task and if they were to lose that job today, they wouldn't be able to function outside of that one job."

You have absofuckinlutely no idea what you're talking about, but I'll defend your right to be ignorant all day long. Please carry on.

Yeah, I don't have a clue, but your lil' sensitive keyboard warrior behind got all triggered by writing a curse riddled soliloquy. That point hit a little too close to home, because you know damn well you got whatever piece of a job or business connections from whoever your family knew or your significant other's family know?

Truth hurts and remember you are replying anonymously because you don't want to get called out in real life!

My son passed on a sportsball scholarship and enlisted in the Army. His MOS was 91 Echo, Trades Specialist. He learned to weld, bend pipe, basic electricity, and basic HVAC. If he chooses to go into the civilian world, he has several options with off shore oil drilling, onshore pipeline and drilling, as well as a few other places that have expressed interest. That's an avenue for young people to explore as well.

Wagie wagie get in cagie
All day long you sweat and ragie
NEET is comfy NEET is cool
NEET is free from work and school
Wagie trapped and wagie dies
NEET eats tendies, sauce and fries.


I'm 42 years old and I've only worked 2 days in my life. Any day now I will inherit this house and enough money that I never have to work during my lifetime.

Well 9:39 I have you beat! I NEVER worked a day because mom left me well off after marrying several times and gaining wealth. All I’ve had to do is sit back and enjoy life while everyone else works. Momma knows best and thank goodness she was good at what she did...I’ve lived well because of it.