Where have all the people gone?

"What to do? Call off the games? Bring your own beer (be a heck of alot cheaper). Nope - they are bussing folks in from Wisconsin and Chicago to stand in the gap."

Interesting story on the news yesterday. And then it was repeated in the paper this morning. Plus, it fits right into my narrative recently. Just about EVERY store we go into has a help wanted sign. Now it is the Twins. Our boys of summer. Playing in their nice new stadium, now that the season is in full swing. They can't seem to get enough local folks to work during the home games. For about $12.50 an hour.

What to do? Call off the games? Bring your own beer (be a heck of alot cheaper). Nope - they are bussing folks in from Wisconsin and Chicago to stand in the gap. Like we don't have enough people around here? I thought the latest census showed the population in our seven county area just went over 3 million. 

Now here is an interesting fact. The Twin Cities has a real problem right now with employment. Not so much with white folks if you believe the U3 employment number. That number is about 4%. It is the minority folks, especially black folks who still have a higher than average unemployment rate of about 15%. Then if you look only at black teens, that number is about 25%.

So what gives? The math does not seem to add up. A metro area with 3 million people, having an underemployment problem with minority teens, needs to bus people in from other states? To work at a fun venue for twelve and a half bucks an hour? Huh? 

Someone who was skeptical (not me of course), might think it is because the Twin Cities has become such a welfare magnet. Heck, not that long ago, we would only attract people from the upper midwest. Now we attract people from all over the country as well as the world. So then, is it possible that going to work for the Twins at a home game would be less money for some that not working at all? Just asking the question.

This situation might have happened before, but I sure cannot remember when. When the Twins played out at the old Met, having a concession job was like catching lightning in a bottle. You were the envy of your peers. Today, they can't give those jobs away. 

I am thinking I will need to do some more digging on this one. It will not make sense to me until the math makes sense. That is unless, it is due to the nonsense of our metro statists who hand out tax dollars with great abandon.