too many people, not enough jobs
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3/21/2007
More and more people are moving to Washington State in general; many of them are wealthy California retirees who are driving up the prices of housing in Seattle and suburbs because...well, they can afford it! Unfortunately, they aren't bringing in new businesses that would create more jobs, and they aren't bringing in families/children to the schools.
My husband and I moved to the Seattle area right after we got married. We moved to be near our families and to begin our new life together there. Two years later, we left Washington, broke and in debt.
We were/are both certified, experienced school teachers who also happen to be fluent in Spanish. My husband did get a teaching job, but I did not. Instead I worked temp jobs, seasonal jobs, any kind of work I could find for two years. Sometimes I was unemployed, and most of the time, I was underemployed. And it wasn't "just me." For example, I cleaned houses for $9 an hour on a crew with a home health care aide, a computer programmer, another schoolteacher, and a high school graduate. Every job I worked, there were always other certified, highly-qualified teachers like me who hadn't been able to get hired as teachers--some had been trying for three years! I think Washington State might be the only State in the U.S. that has no teacher shortage. Some of the school districts I applied to didn't even need substitute teachers! We couldn't afford the cost-of-living there on just my husband's salary plus whatever I could bring in from my jobs.
Before we moved out of the State, my husband and I did much more research on places to live to make sure that there were job opportunities and that teachers were needed. I loved much about the Seattle area, but we are better off now in our new home, in another State, fully-employed and able to pay our bills.
Ayme | West Falls Church, VA