High-Paying Jobs Alone Won't Save Big Cities

This aerial view looking north shows a portion of retail giant Amazon.com's corporate headquarters (bottom center and right) in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Washington as seen from a helicopter in 2012. Anthony Bolante/Reuters

High-Paying Jobs Alone Won't Save Big Cities

  1. ANDRE PERRY
 SEP 18, 2017
If cities are going to sell the farm to Amazon, then the proceeds better benefit the entire community, especially those who can easily be left behind.
The specters of white worker angst and racial disparities that took center stage during the 2016 presidential election created conditions for a corporate hero to swoop in and make America great again.
Enter Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos stage left.   
The tech mogul and newspaper owner has big-city mayors outstretching their arms for the possibility of accommodating and hosting Amazon’s “H2Q” headquarters. The company’s request for proposal (RFP) pronounced that HQ2 will hire 50,000 people for an industry that is positioned to propel cities towards the “next economy,” according to research by the Brookings Institution. The average annual salaries of HQ2 employees will exceed $100,000. Amazon expects to outlay $5 billion in capital expenditures, an amount that could build a small Gotham.
By all means, provide the jobs to cities that need them. It’s not just Trumpian to want American companies to create jobs in the U.S. and invest in the country’s workers. But if governments courting Amazon really have the best interests of their residents at heart, they must require more of the company than a list of Amazon’s wants and some job openings. If cities are going to sell the farm, then the proceeds better benefit the entire community, especially those who can easily be left behind.
Cities don’t just need jobs—and even high paying positions are insufficient. They also need to eradicate racial and gender disparities, provide work training programs, and they need to better prepare for the inevitable natural and manmade disasters that threaten citywide prosperity. Cities deserve a progressive company, one that accounts for societal gains alongside typical financial profits.
In a browning America, Amazon won’t miraculously create a more diverse workforce. Among current U.S. managers at Amazon, 66 percent are white, 21 percent are Asian, 5 percent are Hispanic, and 5 percent are black, according to 2016 self-reported data. Amazon’s entire U.S. workforce better reflects the country’s population, with employees that are 48 percent white, 21 percent black, 13 percent Asian, and 13 percent Hispanic. However, black people make up less than 5 percent of the pale male tech industry in general, so meeting the needs of diverse cities isn’t a given with the arrival of Amazon. Consequently, mayors should lay out conditions or rules of engagement that address the needs of their diverse residents.
Cities can also demand Amazon’s presence to generate resources for workforce training and disaster preparedness. A new Brookings report on Pittsburgh found unaddressed workforce development significantly threaten economic growth and competitiveness. In addition, the impacts of hurricanes Harvey and Irma show us that we can’t keep relying on federal bailouts for inevitable disasters. Whether it be forces of nature or manmade economic, social or political, storms will come. Corporations must contribute a fair share to the community chest.

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