Yesterday the local Chamber of Commerce held an Economic Summit Meeting where the current status of local BRAC employment was discussed. One of the highlights of the discussion was that only 15% of the 1,050 jobs that have transferred to Redstone Arsenal thus far have been filled by personnel moving with their jobs.
Joe Ritch, a Huntsville lawyer who chairs the Tennessee Valley BRAC Committee stated, “BRAC will be successful, but companies in Huntsville will be hit hard”; indicating that many of the incoming jobs will likely be filled by aerospace workers already employed in the area.
According to the Huntsville Times:
Army Maj. Gen. Jim Myles, head of the Aviation and Missile Command on Redstone, and the MDA’s Maj. Gen. Chris Anzalone of the Air Force, have estimated that 20 to 25 percent, or about 1,000, of the 4,700 people now holding the relocating jobs will actually move. …According to a BRAC timeline, the largest number of jobs to move - about 1,900 - is scheduled for 2010.
Specifically, Jim Bolte, vice chairman for work force on the chamber’s Executive Committee this year, touted the launch of www.asmartplace.com. More than 300 companies in the area have posted about 500 jobs so far.
“We’re trying to funnel everyone through this portal,” he said.
Bolte also noted the chamber’s hiring of Mark Brown and Mitzi Floyd to oversee work-force recruitment. He said Brown has been traveling nonstop, visiting college campuses and so-called sister cities, to try to attract young professionals here.
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