I must be missing something…or was this staged?
January 12, 2008
Over the last couple of days, Walmart held somewhat of an impromtu job fair. It seems that the nation’s biggest retailer in its continued progressive growth, is opening a new store in Avondale Estates. More than 10,000 people showed up to apply for 300 jobs. The Walmart is being built in Avondale Estates a small bedroom suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. More than 4 times the amount of people showed up for jobs than live in Avondale Estates.
With the support of Larry Johnson, a DeKalb County commissioner, Walmart decided to build an 182,000-square-foot SuperCenter and garden center. The new Walmart will be located on the grounds of the former Avondale Mall. an abandoned shopping center that closed five years ago. The massive, bunker-like building — one of metro Atlanta’s premier shopping destinations when it opened in 1964 was torn down as a part of an overall mixed-use development at the site, which will include condos, apartments and smaller retail stores in addition to Walmart.
The turnout of applicants was so astounding that ABC NEWS was able to somehow quickly mobilize it’s crew to get to Dekalb to do a piece. Although most of the jobs being offered were mostly part-time positions, new store GM Henry Greene when interviewed by ABC News’ Nightline program (which was broadcast on January 11, 2008), said that there were many real estate agents vying for the positions. (it would be too easy so I will leave this one alone…but you know it’s tough to do so)
Is this a snapshot of the economy? Is this where we are headed? Depression like lines snaking around city blocks with people hoping to get a morsel to eat? Is it really that bad or is there something else behind all of this. You see everyone from City and County officials to Walmart executives were caught completely off guard. In fact Walmart drew all of this attention with very little advertising. A couple of ads in the local driveway littering coupon stuffed thrifty classifieds. No commercials, no display ads in the major newspapers, no Internet ads. Where did these people, overwhelmingly black, come from?
Let me give you a little background on this. Dekalb County, Georgia, which includes much of the eastern portion of Atlanta, is known nationally as the “the most affluent county with an African American majority in the United States”. (55% black) It is a county with nearly 700,000 people and has a median household income in excess of $55,000.00. However it is a different picture when you look more closely at the immediate demographics.
Avondale Estates, where the development is actually located, has a population of only 2,500 people or so and its median household income is over $70,000.00 per year. Its average home price, even in a declining market is in excess of $280,000.00. Hardly a distressed community by any measurement. It is also over 88% white in its make-up and over 68% of it’s residents have a college education. So what’s the deal with over 10,000 mostly black applicants showing up for basically unadvertised positions at a local Walmart?
I know we are in an election year, was this a coordinated scheme by the Democrats to show the economy from their perspective? A simple pandering for votes. Was this a highly orchestrated stunt by Jesse Jackson or one of the myriad of inner city anti-white, anti-capitalist, give me something for nothing organizations. Maybe, anything is possible in an election year. But we would have heard a lot more about this if it was part of a political machine or if it had any racial overtones that Rev. Jackson could capitalize on. Besides these people were looking for jobs, not handouts, so that would pretty much preclude it being something the liberals would be involved in. So what was going on?
“The big turnout speaks volumes about the state of the local economy”, said Bruce Kaufman, a Georgia State University economics professor. While the unemployment rate in the area remains relatively low, Kaufman said the large number of job-seekers suggests that many people are either under-employed or had stopped looking for work. “People are trying to upgrade to a better job,” he said.
Folks, I am not making this up. He, an economic professor at a major university, said that people are under-employed and looking for an upgrade in their profession and obtaining a part-time gig at Walmart was a step-up.
Notice earlier I mentioned that Mr. Greene, the new GM of the Walmart, said that many of his applicants were current real estate agents. Now I get it…don’t you see?
Wow, that is great news for the National Association of Realtors! I was under the misunderstanding that real estate agents were quitting their “profession” because they were ill-prepared to handle the challenges in the market and did not have the basic skills to be in business for themselves. I had no idea, absolutely no idea that agents were actually looking to leave the business because they were looking to move up the socio-economic ladder to actually improve and upgrade their way of life. I did not realize that so many agents truly felt damned by the Harris Poll citing the lack of prestige of a real estate agent. I did not know that they were hopelessly under-employed.
Thank God for Walmart. Maybe that’s why I am not an economic professor. I never realized that what was happening in the market and what was driving the housing slump was that agents were busy working their way up the economic ladder and looking for careers at Walmart. Silly me.
[...] Now, it seems that it has been repeated so much it is actually believed. Fantasy has become reality for many, many, real estate agents. Especially those trying to avoid the lure of a better life at Walmart. [...]