By Lewis Loflin
Businesses often lament a worker shortage, yet the issue isn’t supply but their own policies. They seek educated workers for minimum wage who are punctual, overlooking that pay drives quality. First written in 2007-08, this critique remains relevant in 2025. Manufacturing declines, technology demands skilled labor while hiring fewer, yet Tennessee’s labor-hostile culture persists, shunning education and fair wages.
In 2015, claims of a manufacturing resurgence cited cheap energy, stagnant wages, and corporate incentives. Often, these were jobs shuffled between states to cut costs, with automation and immigration further eroding opportunities. A Sullivan County official admitted in 2007: “I wasn’t disparaging ETSU’s education. When I said ‘ETSU students flipping burgers,’ I meant we lack jobs to retain local graduates, forcing them to leave or settle for service roles.” Decent jobs for degree holders remain scarce.
The region’s business and social culture—deeply anti-labor—rejects college graduates expecting fair pay, preferring high school graduates with advanced skills at low wages. Liberal arts degrees, prevalent and debt-inducing, don’t align with workforce needs, leaving graduates unwilling to take low-status jobs. The far-left academic climate clashes with the far-right business ethos—both need a reality check: culture drives this disconnect.
The Kingsport Times-News (December 9, 2007) reported on the Tennessee Diploma Project (TDP), a state-business collaboration. Over 130 leaders from 112 firms, plus 350 surveyed, identified key entry-level skills—math, verbal ability, work ethic—often lacking in high school graduates:
“TDP recommended more basic math, project-based learning, verbal communication, and professional skills like punctuality. This could push for higher standards under Governor Bredesen or lawmakers in 2008.”
The TDP site (tndiplomaproject.com) closed shortly after, bristling at my critique. Business voices reveal the disconnect:
Kingsport Times-News, January 8, 2008: Employers demand stats, probability, and English skills, yet hire illiterate immigrants at $7 hourly. Accuforce sifted 100,000 applicants for 11,000 jobs—low wages repel quality. As a former vocational adjunct, I saw lazy young students and older ones lacking basics. A rigid academic-vocational divide persists—left-leaning humanities focus on ideology over math, while businesses shun college grads on the factory floor yet crave their skills.
Divisive debates (evolution, condoms) distract from education, belonging at home. Vocational programs are misued as dumping grounds, mirroring business bias against degrees. We churn out humanities grads who can’t fix a light bulb and welders who can’t read blueprints. Less politics, more practical skills—convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, grasp computer logic—would bridge this gap. Teamwork, not class warfare, is needed.
Lewis Loflin, Bristol, VA
A workforce recruiter for Washington and Smyth Counties (90+ manufacturers) refused to discuss wages or conditions, stating industry doesn’t value college degrees—just assists business. Jobs bypass public ads, funneled through insiders. Yet, U.S. Labor data (2006) shows manufacturing wages ($16.80/hour) match private industry ($16.76)—why endure harsh conditions for less here? Good workers leave, and firms complain.
Tennessee’s anti-labor stance—ranking among the top 10 least union-friendly states (AFL-CIO, 2023)—and Virginia’s similar climate fuel outmigration. From 2005-2025, Southwest Virginia lost 15,000 college grads; with East Tennessee’s Tri-Cities, it’s over 35,000 (Census estimates). Median wages in Sullivan County hover at $35,000 (BLS 2023), 43% below Tennessee’s $62,000. Automation and plant closures—like Kingsport’s BAE Systems layoffs (2024)—deepen the rut. Nursing turnover remains high, with 50% exiting within three years due to poor conditions (TN Nurses Assoc., 2024).
Businesses cling to a 1920s mindset, rejecting college grads for cultural and cost reasons, not skills. Dropouts beget dropouts—25% in Tri-Cities lack diplomas (2020 Census)—leaving welfare recipients and drug users behind. Nepotism riddles government jobs, the region’s other mainstay. Without a cultural shift, Tennessee’s economy risks becoming a retirement haven, not a jobs hub.
Acknowledgment: Thanks to Grok, an AI by xAI, for formatting assistance. The analysis and updates are mine, drawn from experience and public data. —Lewis Loflin
