Diesel mechanics wanted... in Williamsport

Williamsport Millionaires, 1908

During and after the Civil War, Central Pennsylvania entrepreneurs created so much wealth from lumbering that Willamsport Area High School's athletic teams are still called the "Millionaires."  By the 1920s, the lumber boom was over.  As the Carter era descended, once elegant mansions along Williamport's "Millionaire's Row" had deteriorated to the point where the neighborhood was known as an area to be avoided.  Good jobs in Billtown were hard to find, indeed.

Today, New Yorkers traveling south of Corning will discover a region that has not only recovered, but is in the throws of another economic boom.  In December, we pointed out the rising tide in seemingly irretrievably depressed Towanda, PA.  Now, Unlikely Hospitalist of Pundit Press reports on Willamsport's latest employment woes - a shortage of employees to fill all its job openings! 

Thanks to the Marcellus Shale, areas of Pennsylvania are in the enviable position of having too many jobs!

This comes as a bit of a surprise to me, given that everything I have heard from those opposing hydraulic fracturing is that the industry won't provide real jobs to the local community...

The job market around Williamsport is rebounding, and some businesses are even having a hard time getting workers, employers are saying.

 Lonely Conservative brings it all back home:

Boy, we could use news like this here in New York state, especially in the Marcellus Shale region where the economy has been stagnant for years.

However, Central New York's aspiring diesel mechanics need to understand that Barbara Lifton already has a high paying job with good benefits and lifetime security.  No soup for you!